Incandescence, the Flower and the Parapet

Abstract

This article proposes a reflection on the notion of stage presence. In reviewing the terms frequently used to evoke this essential quality of acting – perceptible to anyone but always difficult to define –, the author shows to which degree the concept of presence can be oscillating and ideological. From a historical approach, he discusses the evolution of ideas and criteria for the actor's presence since staging, in the late nineteenth entury, began to assert itself as a form of art. His reflection is based mainly on the experiments developed by Stanislavski and, later on, by Ariane Mnouchkine. In general, the author demonstrates how presence studies allow for an assessment of the actor's impact upon the public.