Theater and Communication Studies

On Semiology of Theater

Reza Shirmarz

Theater theoreticians have used the findings of communication studies, social psychology, anthropology and linguistics over the last few decades to give a deeper analysis of theatrical performance. Intercultural communication in contemporary theater directing has also a pivotal role in Theater Studies. The extremely close proximity of Theater Studies, this newly-born field, to other well-established areas like media theories, narratology, and even semiology puts it sometimes in danger of gradual extinction. However, research methodology, on the other hand, provides theater theoreticians with the possibility to utilize the existing concepts in communication studies, humanities, philosophy and literature to give an interpretation of the phenomena of history and culture. In 1968 Theater theoreticians turned from theater historiography to theater theory, sociological model of symbolic interaction and the phenomenon of "communication" which is the bedrock of human studies and used these concepts in order to analyze the theatrical performance. Arno Paul in described Theatrical Studies as "interactive study of theater" in 1970s, in which a theatrical performance means a symbolic relationship between the actors and the spectators. This symbolic relationship is a particular type of daily face-to-face relationship and connects Theater Studies to Communication Studies. The reciprocal communication between the stage and its live audience differentiates the theatrical performance from other types of media because they build up a one-way channel of communication with their audiences not a correlation. 

Theater semiology is probably the most well-structured and well-organized way of analyzing a theatrical performance. Moreover, the semiological method leads us to gain a deeper understanding of the fact that even such a profoundly detailed scientific method is not able to give a comprehensive analysis of a theatrical performance. Many believe that semiology is the offspring of linguistics, but if we take a close look, we will see that it originates, in fact, from communication studies, since it examines the phenomenon of language as a communication and cognition tool. Semiology is based upon communication model in which a sender sends a coded message, through (a) particular channel(s), to a receiver who decodes (understands) it and give feedback (response) to it. There might be some noise (distracting external factors) in this process which can get in the way of perfect interconnectivity between the two sides of a theatrical event. This communication can be established and developed in an audiovisual form. Despite the fact that semiology can give a fully-detailed analysis of a theatrical performance, it sounds too mechanical and simple to penetrate into the real-life communication and give a comprehensive explanation about the fluidity of a theatrical performance in terms of its metalinguistic signs, gestures, mimicry, body movements, space and its changeability, etc. That is why theater theoreticians started using anthropological and phenomenological methods to unveil the hidden parts of a theatrical performance and shed light on its secret aspects which cannot be detected by semiological method. 

Following the concept of intertextuality, intermediality, as one of the pivotal concepts in epistemological debates, was first introduces in 1980s in German speaking world and various academic resources were produced on this matter by German scholars. Intermediality investigates the interaction and correlation between the media. Theater Studies uses this concept to analyze a theatrical performance in relation with media and reveal the creative and technical aspects of this art. Based on this approach the body and the mind of an actor has distinct characteristics and the interconnectivity between these two is the subject matter of intermediality. In addition, this approach illustrates that theatrical communication is the outcome of the existing communications in the current society and we need to separate the aesthetic aspects of theater from its informative aspect and its imaginative content from the reality. At this point, Theater Studies overlaps Media Studies.

                                                                                              

References

Chapple, F. & Ch. Kattenbelt, (2006), Intermediality in Theatre and Performance, Rodopi Publication.

Bay-Cheng, S., Ch. Kattenbelt & A. Lavender, (2010), Mapping Intermediality in Performance, Amsterdam University Press.

Aston, E. & Savona, G. (1991), Theatre as Sign-system - Α Semiotics of Text and Performance, London/New York, Routledge Publication.

Eco, U. (1977), Semiotics of Theatrical Performance, The MIT Press, The Drama Review, N. 21, pp. 107-112.

Poyatos, F. (1982), Nonverbal Communication in the Theater: The Playwright Actor-Spectator/Relationship, Tϋbingen, Multimedial Communication, Vol. II: Theatre Semiotics, pp. 75-94.