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Following on from what Juliebird said, I think the understanding of mirror neurons is so important to recognizing the effect live theatre has. Las month, the director Anne Bogart gave a talk in Ireland, at which I was present, where she talked about mirror neurons in reference to the theatrical form.
For most of us theatre practitioners in the audience, it was the first time we'd ever heard of such a concept, and upon learning that watching another human experience something causes a "shadow" version of the experience to fire in the brain of the watcher I had a bit of an epiphany--I even turned to my companion and said, "This explains so much about my life."
What I mean by that is that in the past few years I've had extreme physiological and psychological reactions to events in front of me that were way out of adjustment with the actual reality of the moment. It's a bit like PTSD, with no specific trauma (that I can remember, anyway) that ever initially happened. Combining my understanding of the psychological effects my upbringing had on me with the concept of mirror neurons has finally shed some light on these mysterious reactions, and brought me further understanding and peace.
As a practicing Buddhist, I also think it ties into Buddhism in a big way: no wonder life has suffering in it--you can't help it! You see fellow humans go through something and you're going through it too! How you confront that suffering, though, is the key part of the Buddhist principles, and I do believe that pure compassion can and does exist and be exercised outside of a "monkey see, monkey do" setup.
Even if the hoopla about the significance of mirror neurons dies down, or turns out to be factually untrue, I've still found the concept of it immensely helpful in my life. Perhaps it's just an illusion, but it's a useful one. It's helped me find greater compassion for myself.
