Theatre and Medicine: They Relate?

The Medical Biology of Theatre

This semester, I’ve been introduced formally into the world of Theatre.  I’ve learned origins, metaphors, and all other different subjects in its arsenal but I would never have related it to my major.  In my eyes, science and theatre had no true connection or could support the other.  Why would I think like that when Theatre is the right-side of the brain of expression, creativity, and language as science is the left-brain of comprehension, mathematics, and formulas?  It’s taken me awhile but there are aspects of theatre that, when taken out of context, fit in with the demands of my Pre-Medical Biology studies.  Theatre is about acting, an useful skill that all doctors need because we can’t let our own emotions through when they are inappropriate and we need to be strong in times of delivering bad news.  I also noticed the aspects of theatre about ritual and a need to be comfortable before/during a performance relates to my specific goals of being a trauma surgeon; as actors need to calm themselves before a bug performance with a familiar ritual, so does a doctor before performing a surgery.  Both these points are theatre in the world I want to be a part in.

Acting, the very word typically makes me shudder as I think of stuck-up people who think they are the deities on Earth and are to be given their every desire and whim.  I’m stereotyping here but it’s always been my reaction to acting.  It took me awhile but I found that if I was myself in my studies and future career, guaranteed I wouldn’t be hired nor liked.  I need to be able to act my part perfectly or well-enough to be successful.  I realized even as we did the exercises on improvising that this was a necessity of my dreams.

These dreams won’t be successful if I also don’t appreciate what theatre has taught me about finding your center.  I’ve never been one to act or speak in front of crowds or audiences but having pushed myself a bit and after the discussion with Lindsey’s Oyster, I found myself noticing this other essential quality my career and theatre share: finding your center.  It’s a coping mechanism, involving ritualistic means to keep yourself calm and able-minded before a task.  Actors use it for getting into character or calming nerves.  Doctors, or in my goal’s case surgeons, do this as well.  It can be anything from a song that calms you to reciting your favorite poem or telling jokes.  It’s a coping method but an integral part of my dreams and this class.

I’m hoping that these comparisons help alleviate the wariness I have towards this art form.  I will never go and say, “I wanna be an actress and a Broadway star!” but now I’ll hopefully be more appreciative with seeing these similarities.  Coping mechanisms and acting are not really symbolic or metaphorical or outstanding when one thinks of how elaborate and detailed theatre is but for me it’s a step in the right direction.  Having now found how theatre and medicine relate, I can move forward more with my studies, having taken these vital lessons, in my eyes, away with me to achieve greater and more wondrous things.