The Semiotics of Theatre

Translated by Jeremy Gaines and Doris L. Jones.
Erika Fischer-Lichte is Director of the Institute of Theater Research at the Johannes Gutenberg-Universität, Mainz. In this book she describes the different cultural systems that can be employed as theatrical sign-systems and explores how they generate meaning.Introduction
Theater as a Cultural System
The Theatrical CodeThe Theatrical Code as a SystemThe Actor’s Activities as a Sign
Language-based Signs
Linguistic Signs
Paralinguistic Signs
Kinesic Signs
Mimic Signs
Gestural Signs
Proxemic Signs
The Actor’s Appearance as a Sign
Mask
Hairstyle
Costume
Spatial Signs
Theatrical Space
Stage Space
Decoration
Props
Lighting
Nonverbal Acoustic Signs
Sounds
Music
Theater as a Semiotic System
The Specificity of the Theatrical Sign
Structure and Hierarchy
Theatrical Communication
TheatricialityThe Theatrical Gesture as a NormThe Gesture in Eighteenth-Century German Theater
From System to Norm
Problems of a Semiotic Historical Reconstruction
The Gestural Code in Eighteenth-Century German Theater
Preconditions: The Gestural Code of Baroque Theater
Changes in the Baroque Gestural Code during the Early Enlightenment
The Genesis of a Gestural Code for Bourgeois Illusionist Theater
Gestures in Theater as a Representational System of Meaning in the Discourse of the EpochThe Theatrical Code as SpeechPerformance as Theatrical Text
The Concept of the Theatrical Text
On the Constitution of the Theatrical Text
The Transformation of the Drama’s Literary Text into the Theatrical Text of the Performance
The Hermeneutics of the Theatrical Text
The Process of Constituting Meaning and Sense as a Method of Analyzing Theatrical Texts
Theory and Method
Individual Analytic Procedures
Recourse to the Theatrical Code as a System and a Norm
Segmentation
Selection and Combination
Internal and External Recoding
On Applying the Method
Problems of Notation
Concluding Remarks on the Kinesic Code of the German Theater of the 1970sNotes
Bibliography
Index of Names
Index of Terms