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Transactional Analysis and Acting

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2021

Arthur Wagner
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Extract

Late in Robert Lowell's Benito Cereno, Captain Amasa Delano interrupts a conversation with his bosun, Perkins, to say, “I seem to have been dreaming … I dreamed someone was trying to kill me.” Delano never leaves the stage, there is no time for him to actually fall asleep and dream, and yet the statement is certainly not descriptive of a daydream. During rehearsals of my production at Tulane we attempted to justify the moment as best we could. There was a long pause before the line while Perkins checked the approach of their own ship to the San Domingo. William Wolak, playing Delano, did the most he could with the moment, but was never really comfortable in it. I knew he was uncomfortable, but could not offer a satisfactory solution.

Type
Research Article
Information
Tulane Drama Review , Volume 11 , Issue 4 , Summer 1967 , pp. 81 - 88
Copyright
Copyright © The Tulane Drama Review 1967

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References

1 For detailed definitions of terms used in this paper see Berne's, Eric Transactional Analysis in Psychotherapy (New York: Grove Press, 1961).Google Scholar The terms Parent, Adult, and Child designate the three ego states that make up the psychological topography of each individual. Each ego state has its own unique response to stimuli and behavior pattern—demeanor, gesture, voice and vocabulary. The Parent may be “nurturing” or “prejudicial” depending upon whether it is sympathetic or prohibitive in nature, the Child may be “natural” or “adapted,” depending upon the dominance of the Parental influence. A “cathected” ego state is one which is in executive power; that is, the currently energized ego state. A “decomissioned” ego state is one which has been repressed and cannot be cathected. A “contaminated” ego state is one in which aspects of another ego state are present. Three kinds of transactions are discussed: pastimes, games, and intimacy. Pastimes are transactions in which there are no ulterior motives, the essential gains being the enjoyment of the pastime and the passing of time it achieves without pain. Games are transactions which include an ulterior motive, what Berne calls a “gimmick,” the gains coming from the satisfaction of the ulterior motive; there is one transaction on the social level—what appears to be going on—and one transaction on the psychological level, the ulterior motive. Intimacy is a straightforward transaction; what the individual does on the social level is directly the means to his end.

Berne's delineation of gains corresponds in actor's terms to objectives. He discusses five levels of gain, offering to the actor five possible selections for each transaction. External primary gain, internal primary gain, and secondary gains are concerned with psychological satisfactions generally related to Freudian dynamic, the advantage to the actor being the multiplicity of choice. Of greatest interest are social gain and biological gain. A social gain answers the question: how does the transaction contribute to the individuals’ structuring of time? Does a particular transaction enable the individual to play a favorite pastime or game, etc.? Biological gain “is derived from the mere fact, that the parties are stimulating each other in some way and removing each other's isolation, regardless of the manner or content of the stimulation.” A most important objective for some dramatic characters. Look at Lady Macbeth.

2 Op. cit., p. 125.

3 Ibid., p. 107.

4 Ibid., p. 98.

5 Ibid., p. 62.