The man woke up in darkness and shouted "Who?"

More from James Hillman's "The Dream and the Underworld":

“Public performance on a stage, perhaps because it puts us into the underworld of theater, also constellates the curious interplay between life-soul and image-soul*. The almost depersonalization of stage fright makes one feel deserted by one’s soul. All that one memorized and trained for has suddenly vanished. It is as if another soul must play the role, and this moment of going on stage is like a rite de passage, a transition into death."

*'This “dual pluralism” of soul refers on the one hand to a life-soul that is multiple, having various associations with body parts and emotions, and so is also called “body-soul”, “breath soul”, and “ego-soul.” On the other hand, there is a free-soul or psyche-soul, which is equivalent with and manifests as a “shadow-soul,” “death-soul,” “image-soul,” and “dream-soul.”'

_______________________

Oh yeah. I can relate. I laughed when I read that "deserted by one's soul..." on stage. Yes, such a feeling it is. But maybe it's into the void created by this terrible desertion (not just by the raw fear, though; preparation would be a big part of this) that another —soul?— can come. When a show goes right, one definitely gets the feeling that it isn't or wasn't you. I've heard and read this so many times that it's a truism. There must be something there.

Another way of putting it: If you're too much your daylight self, then there's no room for anything else. And when your daylight self is up on stage, going through the motions, it's terrible for everyone. It's a weird situation where the audience and the performer all know, pretty much right off the bat, that the show is going to bomb. And yet, some social agreement means that we'll endure it; we won't shrug our shoulders and say, "Aw, this isn't gonna work. Why don't you go home? That's where I'm headed." I remember one show, when, after telling a few jokes that fell silently into the void, I knew that it was going to be a very very long 90 minutes up there. Everyone knew. I felt sorry for all of us.

It stands to reason you better know what you're doing if you're inviting - even unwittingly - someone or something else in to actually "do the show." I think good intentions are the best protection. Besides a good sense of humor.