To Be or Not to Be: the performative experience of becoming a character

ABSTRACT This article investigates the complex relationship between the performer and the character, focusing on the question of identification and the boundaries between art and life. Through a comparative analysis of some Western and Eastern traditions of performer training, the study explores philosophical, aesthetic, and technical perspectives that challenge the fusion between performer and role. Key references such as Jerzy Grotowski, Étienne Decroux, Peter Brook, Constantin Stanislavski, and Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff support the reflection on the concept of working on oneself as an ethical and artistic practice. The article argues that mastery in acting does not lie in total immersion in the character, but in the ability to maintain a conscious distance that allows the performer to develop technical precision, creative freedom, and stage presence. The notion of self-observation, understood as a tool for cultivating a lucid and integrated presence, is presented as a central principle in performer training, resonating with the Socratic ideal of self-knowledge. Through this paradoxical exercise, the article concludes that the performer not only deepens their art but also transforms themselves, contributing to a critical and humanized theatrical practice.