Semiology of Gesture

Abstract

Theater is a space of both action and contemplation, and the principal element of any theatrical performance is the actor's body—an object of potential signs wherein the actor's gestures and movements, along with the space in which they are inscribed, constitute signifiers, thereby transforming the character being portrayed into a sign. Once this object is selected as a sign, it becomes an abstraction, placing the spectator within that representational context as both a motivating and motivated element—one whose phatic, or contact-oriented, function is underscored by the actor's gestures—while establishing a series of relationships between diegetic time (the time of the narrative) and represented time (the time of the discourse).