The Semiotics of Theatre and DramaKeir Elam showed how this new 'science' could provide a radical shift in our understanding of theatrical performance, one of our very richest and most complex forms of communication.The late twentieth century saw an explosion of interest in semiotics, the science of the signs and processes by which we communicate. In this study, the first of its kind in English, Keir Elam shows how this new 'science' can provide a radical shift in our understanding of theatrical performance, one of our richest and most complex forms of communication.Elam traces the history of semiotic approaches to performance, from 1930s Prague onwards, and presents a model of theatrical communication. In the course of his study, he touches upon the 'logic' of the drama and the analysis of dramatic discourse. This edition also includes a new post-script by the author, looking at the fate of theatre semiotics since the publication of this book, and a fully updated bibliography. Much praised for its accessibility, The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama remains a 'must-read' text for all those interested in the analysis of theatrical performance. |
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action actor actual aesthetic Alessandro Serpieri analysis Anaphora audience audience's character coherence connotative constructs context conventions critical defined deictic deixis dialogue Dijk distinct dramatic discourse dramatic information dramatic text dramatic world dramatis personae example exchange fabula fictional Fran functions gesture Ghost iconic idiolect illocution illocutionary illocutionary acts illocutionary force indexical indicate individual interaction involved kind kinesic language linguistic literary logical Macbeth means metonymy modality modes movement narrative object ostension paralinguistic performance text play poetics possible worlds post-structuralism post-structuralist pragmatic Prague School Pres principles produced proxemic reference relations relationship represented rhetorical role rules semantic semiology semiosis semiotic semioticians semiotics of theatre Serpieri sign-vehicle signals signified social space spatial speaker spectator spectator's speech act stage structuralist structure subcodes symbolic syntactic temporal textual theatre and drama theatre semiotics theatrical communication theatrical discourse theatrical sign theory tion units utterance