Indiana University Press

Theatre Semiotics
Signs of Life

Marvin Carlson

DESCRIPTION

Theatre semioticians have to date concerned themselves

primarily with the semiotics of the literary dramatic text, the
semiotics of the physical enactment of this text, or the
relationship between the two. Theatre Semiotics offers a
broader, differently oriented analysis, balancing
consideration of the ways theatrical signs are produced with
the ways they are received and creatively interpreted by a
public. The theatre experience is here regarded not simply
as the physical realization of a written text on a stage but as
a complex social event whose semiotics involves not only
play and performance but the entire experience of attending
theatre.
Each section of the study works from a different but related
eBook, $20.75 perspective. The first discusses how audiences develop
February 1990 interpretive strategies from sources both within and outside
9780253115171 the production system of the event itself, and some of the
Pages implications of this process for producers of theatre and for
audience participation. The second section deals with the
semiotics of space and its relationship to interpretation of
the theatre event. The concern here is not with the
performance on stage but with other space involved in the
performance event, such as theatre architecture and
performance outside traditional theatre spaces. The final
section deals more directly with the creative contribution of
the audience.
As its title suggests, Theatre Semiotics is primarily semiotic
in orientation, but it draws upon related work in reception
theory, hermeneutics, and phenomenology in order to
provide clearer understanding of the dynamics of the total
theatre event.

To order this book visit

Herman B Wells Library, 1320 E 10th Street, Bloomington, Indiana 47405 • iupress.org
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)