On the Relationship Between Text, Performance, and Role Typology

Abstract

This article approaches the relationship between text and performance not as a universal binary opposition, but as a problem of theatrical structure. It distinguishes between character-centered and type-centered models of organizing the scenic whole. In the former, scenic meaning is constructed through the character as a mediating link between text and stage; in the latter, the determining role is played by the role type, the model of action, and the rules of scenic expression. The main material of the study is drawn from Chinese classical theatre, represented above all by the kunqu tradition. It is shown that role typology here functions not as a classification of characters, but as a basic principle of scenic organization that changes the unit of structure, the mode by which text enters the stage, and the conditions under which individual style becomes manifest. A comparison with emploi in twentieth-century Russian and Soviet theatrical thought makes it possible to clarify the difference between structural levels and to consider actor typology as a universal problem of theatrical art.

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