http://mindhacks.com/2008/09/09/reminiscence-opening/ Neuroscience and psychology news and views. Fri, 17 May 2013 22:36:12 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ http://mindhacks.com/2008/09/09/reminiscence-opening/#comment-6386 Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:38:14 +0000 http://mindhacksblog.wordpress.com/2008/09/09/reminiscence-opening/#comment-6386 They’ll have to redub the theatre Hughling Jackson’s Lane, eh?
And all ‘reminiscence’ contains ‘science’ with a minor shift of letters. TLE makes an interesting companion for the stage. It’s the personal memories that audiences and performers awaken that can bring a piece to life. Memory is the ultimate confabulist, but that’s entertainment. With luck our blobby grayish pink playwright will craft a fair share of laughter and tears in the temporal anomaly we call everyday life. Dare we ever apply the label ‘real’ with assurance?
Linking this with the recent post on pseudobulbar affect show two scenes from the larger work of neurological damage and the not always entirely negative emotional affect. The damage that erodes control, can feel like creative freedom, a fresh look, or a loss of independence, or all at once. If an actor fluffs a line, he can try again the next evening – we don’t often get that luxury offstage except in imagination.
Writers can focus on creating alternatives for their own or witnessed mistakes. Theatre-goers and neurologists, or any combination thererof, can observe and try to decode what was from what might have been. Are we watching rehearsals or delusions?

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