Theatrical enunciation between embodiment and visual semiotics

Abstract

According to a sociosemiotic theoretical framework, this paper reflects on the enunciative relations between the so-called “dramatic text” and its performance. First we will address the textual nature of playing on stage, to be no longer thought of as a deflection from the dramatic text, but as the result of dynamics of translation converging in the stage practice. The alleged opposition between the closure of the dramatic text and the phenomenal presence of the actor’s body on stage must be reconfigured on the ground of enunciation frames, along with all their effects of reality and presence. During the performance, the actor uses his own figure to project an image that displays a series of semantic articulations, adopting enunciation strategies that can be analysed sub specie textis.
Though many studies on theatre still support the idea that the effect of naturalism on stage depends on casualness and impermanence, we will rely also on the approach of cognitive studies to remark that this very effect is the result of precise enunciative strategies oriented to produce empathy between the actor and the spectator.