Published online by Cambridge University Press: 15 January 2009
One of the problems of applying semiotic techniques to theatre work has been a vocabulary which too often mystifies rather than clarifies the theatre experience for the non-specialist student. Patrice Pavis, in his work with students at the University of Paris III, has evolved a questionnaire about theatre performance which, while not in itself utilizing semiotic terminology, attempts to direct the respondents' attention to all the aspects of theatrical signification upon which it touches. In the following article, Patrice Pavis, whose major study of theatrical terminology, entitled Dictionnaire du Théâtre, was published by Editions Sociales in 1980, outlines the purpose of the questionnaire, and provides explanatory notes to the individual questions, outlining an approach on which many involved in theatre teaching may wish to comment and build.
1. Pavis, Patrice, ‘Production et réception au théâtre: la concrétisation du texte dramatique et spectaculaire’, Revue des Sciences Humaines, LX, 189 (01–03. 1983).Google Scholar
2. Pavis, Patrice, Dictionnaire du théâtre: termes et concepts de I'analyse théâtrale (Paris: Editions Sociales, 1980).Google Scholar
3. Patrice Pavis, ‘Production et réception au théâtre’, op. cit.