THE OUTBREAK AS CREATION: INTERFACES BETWEEN BIPOLAR DISORDER AND THE PERFORMING ARTS IN THE CREATIVE PROCESS OF “ESPECTRO”
Bipolar Affective Disorder; Creative Process; Practice as Research. Performance; Theater.
This work studies the interfaces between the Performing Arts and bipolar affective disorder through the analysis of the creative process “Spectrum,” developed by the author of this dissertation while going through his first manic episode of bipolarity. Using Practice as Research as the main methodology, the study seeks to map the scenic poetics of a bipolar actor-creator, the practical developments and the particularities of the process. The writing is divided into three moments: the description of practical laboratories, experiences and studies; autobiographical statements by the author juxtaposed with the autobiography of psychiatrist Kay Redfield Jamison (1996), reporting passages from their lives with bipolar disorder; and reflections on the creative process of “Espectro”, both in the context of Theater and Performance, anchored in references from various authors. This investigation envisioned the possibility of drawing links between creativity in bipolarity and also in the Performing Arts, becoming a reference for bipolar artists in the contemporary scene, as well as being a promising example of how art and life can be interconnected and blur their differences. borders in creation processes.