The Semiotics of Theatre and Drama by Keir Elam (review)

Book Reviews KEIR ELAM. The Semiotics o/Theatre and Drama. London and New York: Methuen 1980. In a previous article published in 1977 (Sub-stance, 18/19), Keir Elam noted that the small number ofanicles with a semiotic approach to theatre stemmed from the difficulty of getting into this field by reason of its complexity and the lack of methodological apparatus available at the time. One of the chief handicaps was the confusion between text and performance that was often perpetuated by researchers in the field. Elam tries to avoid this confusion right from the beginning of his book by positing the two distinct notions of "theatre" and "drama," "Drama" refers to that "mode of fiction designed for stage representation and constructed according to particular (dramatic) conventions" (p. 2), whereas "theatre" is that "complex of phenomena associated with the peIfonneraudience transaction: that is, with the production and communication of meaning in the performance itself." Thus "drama" comes under the heading of linguistic semiotics inspired by the various theories of discourse, whereas "theatre" belongs to the realm of communications theory. Elam's entire book is based on this fundamental theoretical difference; its two main axes (according to the amount ofspace and importance assigned to them) are: a) theatrical communication, codes, systems. and the performance text (ch. 3); and b) dramatic discourse (ch. 5). Between the two is a chapteron dramatic logic (ch. 4)· Going back to 1931 and the renowned founders of modem theatrical semiotics, especially the members of the Prague School (Otakar Zich, Jan MukafowskY, Petr Bogatyrev, Jill VeltruskY, BruW,), Elam attempts to trace the importance of their discoveries and the evolution which has occurred since then. From the brief historical overview in his first two chapters. the following conclusions may be drawn: J) that semiotics has long been in search of a minimal theatrical unity patterned after the linguistic model, which it would bave liked to define as the theatrical sign. In fact, all such attempts have so far proved inadequate. failing to take into account the complexity of the theatrical phenomenon. Book Reviews 2) that if it is possible to envisage a theatrical semiotics, it is most certainly by examining the signifying systems, systems of signs and codes which make any play a coherent whole and assure communication between the audience and the perfonners . Elam devotes considerable space to this second point in his third chapter, no longer dealing with the theatrical sign, but tackling the much broader issue of theatrical communication. Is there such a thing? And if so, how does it take place? These are the two essential questions which have occupied a whole school of semioticians who (following the work of Birdwhistell. Moles and McLuban) are trying to find a simple model of communication (Corvin, Ruffini, Bettetini). Elam also attempts to provide a model, based on Umberto EcO'5 communications model in A Theory of Semiotics, which can be applied to the theatre (pp. 38-39). Once again it becomes clear that it is absolutely necessary for the theatre to be continually evolving. without the possibility of the process ever becoming fixed. Nor can it be made to repeat itself in order for us to understand its subtleties and structures more easily. From what he has defined as "dramatic and theatrical sub-codes" (the same distinction he had made at the beginning of the book). Elam draws up an impressive chart of all of the possible levels on which a play may be understood: systemic,linguistic, intertextual, formal, epistemic, aesthetic, logical, ethical, ideological, psychological, and finally, historical (pp. 57-62). The advantage of this table is that it shows us the extremely complex networks which a simple perfonnance sets up in the theatre. The theatrical event is constantly shifting and changing, and for anyone who tries to comprehend it in its totality, it turns out to be the crossing-point of multiple systems, codes, and signs, all impossible to isolate, continually influenced by various factors, originating both within and beyond the petfonnance. It is a mechanism which can be grasped only while it is in motion, and falls apart as soon as it stops. Elam next turns his attention to the dramatic text, as indicated...