Generating Theatre Meaning

Generating Theatre Meaning: A Theory and Methodology of Performance Analysis by Eli Rozik presents a fresh approach to understanding theatre performance. The book proposes that a theatre performance is not merely a script in action, but a descriptive text generated by the theatre medium, with meaning emerging through the live encounter between the performance and its spectator. At the heart of this work lies a detailed exploration of how the theatre medium functions iconically - operating images of real or mental models - and influences both the verbal elements and stage metaphors. Rozik examines how poetic principles structure fictional worlds, creating unity and wholeness in the performance text, and how an ongoing dialogue is established between the implied director and spectator. The text carefully discusses functions such as framing, reading, interpreting, and experiencing, which are critical in shaping the performance. The book is thoughtfully structured into an introductory survey of major twentieth-century contributions to performance analysis, followed by three in-depth parts. Part I delves into the semiotic substratum of the performance text, focusing on the unique communicative power of a non-verbal medium. Part II explores the poetic and metaphorical architecture that connects the fictional world of the performance to the lived world of the audience. In Part III, Rozik illustrates the practical application of these principles through detailed analyses of actual performance texts. As the first comprehensive work to address the necessity of a methodology tailored to performance analysis, Generating Theatre Meaning offers scholars and practitioners alike a robust framework for rethinking how theatre communicates meaning through its distinctive medium.