Theatre Semiotics: Body Semiotization in Modern Theatre and its Expression in Contemporary Lithuanian Theatre Cover Image

Teatro Semiotika: Kūno Semiotizavimo Raiška Šiuolaikiniame Lietuvos Teatre
Theatre Semiotics: Body Semiotization in Modern Theatre and its Expression in Contemporary Lithuanian Theatre

Author(s): Gintarė Narauskaitė
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Semiology, Phenomenology
Published by: Visuomeninė organizacija »LOGOS«
Keywords: Lithuanian theatre; body semiotization; modern theatre; J. Jurašas; E. Nekrošius; J. Vaitkus;

Summary/Abstract: A thoroughly developed and explicated phenomenon of body somatization in Western European theatre is visualized less expressively in contemporary Lithuanian theatre. Although Lithuanian directors seeked to implement the autonomy of an actor’s body, the authority of a literary text remained important. Notably, the autonomous discourse of bodies and items emerged only in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Nonetheless, the majority of the directors of the 20th and the 21st century emphasized the symbolic meaning of an actor’s body. This article analyzes Lithuanian performances in which the most significant aspects of bodies and props are represented. The Lithuanian directors, such as J. Jurašas, M. Tenisonas, E. Nekrošius, J. Vaitkus, G. Varnas, O. Koršunovas, who presented the autonomic symbolic of bodies and props are introduced chronologically. Though a solid postmodern expression is absent in Lithuanian theatre, the desemiotization tendencies typical to postmodernism are revealed and discussed in the works of B. Šarka.

  • Issue Year: 2014
  • Issue No: 80
  • Page Range: 164-169
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: Lithuanian