A Contribution to the Semiotics of Theater

Abstract

The semiotics of theater, like the semiotics of cinema, has attracted the attention of a great many scholars. To mention a few, we have the bibliography of Bettetini & De Marinis (1977), the bibliography which accompanies Pavis (1976), the anthologies of theatrical semiotics edited by Diez Borque & Lorenzo (1975), Helbo (1975), the 1978 (no. 13) issue of Degre's, and the 1978 (no. 20) issue of Biblioteca Teatrale. The reason for this is not hard to find theater incorporates, at the same time, the verbal code and a great many other codes: those of gesture, costume, space, sound, etc. This explains why such a subject attracts attention: it aims at defining the way meaning is produced through an interaction of codes which are in themselves so heterogeneous. There has been much research of a preliminary nature. First and foremost, the relationships existing between a text for the theater and its representation had to be defined, for it is obvious that the text has been composed primarily in view of such representation. Furthermore, it is equally obvious that the analysis of a variety of representations, even if limited to one and the same text, would soon be lost in uncontrollable plurality. The sign status of the different codes brought into play likewise called for definition. Once the status of the codes had been defined, it was necessary to proceed to the investigation of cross-code connections, for it is these that give rise to the overall meaning. One survey of theatrical codes, by Kowzan (1975), groups them into five categories: 1) spoken text, 2) body gesture, 3) actor's external aspect (mimetic and gestural), 4) the stage/setting, and 5) unarticulated sound. Relationships among these codes have been investigated further by Ruffini (1978). As the theatrical event is made up substantially of a series of exchanges,