Newer Methods of Researching Dramatic Texts and Theatrical Representation

Abstract

The treatise explores the relationship between drama’s text and its theatrical application, more accurately the analysis of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet and its representation by Dušan Jovanović as presented on the stage of the Slovenian National Theatre in Ljubljana. Although Jovanović follows the original Shakespearian text quite closely, the dramatic text and its theatrical application are analyzed separately to achieve better clarity. – Structuralism includes into its analysis the text and the theatrical representation of drama offering an exploration of some basic elements of the drama, as for example the actant’s models, plot, dramatic time and space. Nevertheless, it does not include some important thematic aspects of the content. – The question of the essence of Shakespeare’s drama is answered by using the method of New Historicism. This method proves to be the most appropriate mode for the analysis of renaissance dramatic literature since it exclusively explores the text and its relationship with the specific features and hidden ideology of its era. By using it, the treatise focuses on four aspects of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, which are: fragility of ideal love, realization of the presages of death, conflict between legal and legitimate, and improvisation of the main dramatis personae. – Contrary to the analysis of plain drama’s text, the analysis of the theatrical representation uses the semiotic method and some other methods related to it. These methods are significant because of their pluralism which serves as a basis of their theory. Not only do they focus on the text itself, but they also include the moments of production and reception. A similar approach is offered in the theoretical work L’analyse des spectacles written by Patrice Pavis, which serves as a fulcrum to this treatise. However, some of Pavis’ perspectives are not entirely adequate for the analysis of dramatic representation, therefore they are critically evaluated. – The conclusion deals with the formation of Jovanović’s theatrical representation and its final stage version as offered to the public. Deriving from this and previous findings, it is possible to obtain some significant differences between the drama’s text and its theatrical representation.