The Semiotics of Performances: An Introduction to the Analysis, Interpretation, and Theory of the Performing Arts - Softcover

Paul Bouissac

Softcover

ISBN 10: 135037265X ISBN 13: 9781350372658

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, 2025

Synopsis

What is a live performance? And why is semiotics the best approach for the analysis and interpretation of the performing arts?

Drawing on semiotic developments of the past five decades, this book introduces students to the semiotic analysis of live performances and provides them with a clear method for untangling the multimodal complexity of performance from the spectator’s point of view.

Presenting live performances as two-way communication processes, social events, and cognitive and affective experiences, each chapter of this highly accessible book begins first with an overview of the basics. This is followed by a case study, and moves through to a more advanced discussion, accompanied by suggestions for exercises and further reading. Diagrams and flow charts help to clearly illustrate the conceptual tools used in the analytical process, and a companion website contains recorded extracts from the live performances discussed in the book, which students can use to put their knowledge into practice. The book explores a broad range of performance types from across different cultures, including music, opera, ballet, theatre, circus, mime, improvisation, and immersion. It offers a guide for understanding the way in which a performance is produced, from an initial idea through to the final presentation in front of a live audience, and provides the reader with the tools and understanding they need for a successful semiotic analysis of live performance.

About this title

About the Author

Paul Bouissac is Professor Emeritus at Victoria College, University of Toronto, Canada. He is a world renowned figure in semiotics and a pioneer of circus studies. He runs the Semioticon, an Open Semiotics Resource Center, which has a global readership.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
• Publication date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 135037265X
• ISBN 13: 9781350372658
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 184