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How is performer-object interaction enacted and perceived in the theatre? How thereby are varieties of ´meaning´ also enacted and perceived? Using cognitive theory and ecological ontology, Paavolainen investigates how the interplay of actors and objects affords a degree of enjoyment and understanding, whether or not the viewer speaks the language.

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1. Agents and Objects: A Primer to Concepts and Approaches 2. The Meyerhold Case: Scaffolding Action and Interpretation 3. The Polish Case: Poor Theatre/s and Cultural Ecology 4. Grotowski and the ´Objectivity´ of Performance 5. Pillories to Barricade: Kantor´s Infernal Ecologies Epilogue: Performing Humanity: Tensions and Continuities

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´With this major work, Teemu Paavolainen takes his place in the vanguard of thinkers who are creatively bringing cognitive science into an exciting and highly productive dialogue with Theatre Studies. With considerable philosophical sophistication and an impressive knowledge of relevant cognitive science, Paavolainen contributes to debates about the nature and workings of affordances, image schemas, and other basic cognitive processes. His is an exemplary enactment of what is best and most promising in cognitive approaches to theatre.´ - Mark Johnson, Knight Professor of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Department of Philosophy, University of Oregon, USA

´In this brilliant study the opposition between Kantor and Grotowski is deconstructed and some important aspects they both shared appear. Reintroducing the political and social dimensions of the ´poor theatre´ by means of the cognitive approach seems to me really fascinating. The case studies give the reader not familiar with the Polish critical reception of Grotowski and Kantor precise accounts of their analyzed performances.´ - Dariusz Kosi?ski, Jagiellonian University, Kraków, and the Grotowski Institute, Wroc?aw, Poland

´This is a sophisticated, thorough, and innovative analysis that has the potential to significantly advance the field of cognitive approaches to performance. Eschewing brain-bound models and embracing embodied, distributed, and extended approaches to cognition, Paavolainen deftly demonstrates the potential of these theories to transform current theories of performance.´ - Evelyn Tribble, Donald Collie Chair of English, University of Otago, New Zealand

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Teemu Paavolainen is a postdoctoral fellow of Theatre and Drama Research in the School of Communication, Media, and Theatre at the University of Tampere, Finland.

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