The Dynamics of Communication in the Context of Relations and Events Performed on Stage

Abstract

This paper discusses communication processes in the context of performative arts and focuses on staged events as communicative events which disperse messages across different levels and in different directions in order to construct meanings in a multi-layered way, to include artistic, ideological, political and other dimensions. The core issue is the role of the director as the motivating and organizing stance of all the processes that evolve on stage. The modalities of organizing theatrical acts intertwine as the process of directing unfolds, stage after stage, and the ultimate goal to reach the audience needs to be kept in focus the entire time. It is possible to distinguish four such stages mediated specifically by directing itself. Organization of events to be set on the stage and sustained by strategies of communication starts with the abandonment of the literary template, with the articulation of the theatrical concept. The next stage is described in terms of a confrontation between the text and the performance (mise-en-scène), to be followed by the semiotic elaboration of signs which are structured and manipulated with in accordance with a specific directorial concept. Finally, the fourth stage is about creating a meta-text, and at this level, the directed communication connects with current social, political and cultural issues that provide the context to the theatrical expression. This paper provides an overview of most relevant views on this subject excerpted from the field of semiotics and from the theory of theatre communication, and it provides arguments for drawing this area of research into the broader context of the media theory, also announcing future research to pursue this direction of thought.