L’uso sapiente del corpo e il linguaggio del teatro / The wise use of the body and the language of the theater

Abstract

How does poetic function in theater language, and what are the expressive matter, the elements, the syntax of theater language? The article examines the linguistic system of theater, an art whose expressive material is the organic matter of the actor's physical body in the scene. The meaning of the show comes from the use of this particular expressive material to obtain shapes, actions, movements, postures, individual body configurations and combined with other elements such as the body of other actors, objects, spaces, movements on the scene. In fact, the idea of theater as recitation of a script or representation of facts placed in a narrative sequence is now overcome.

Using above all the direct experiences of the actors, we examine how the malleable material of the body is used and segmented by actors and directors, what are its lexical elements, identified in the different articulations of the body trimmed by segmentation, and how they are used to compose body enunciations and produce poetic effects. It concludes with a list of the specific poetic effects of this expressive material, confirming that the poetic function is made in theater with the manipulation of the organic matter of the actor's body, also indicating which are the lexicon and syntax of this language.