The Mediation of the Actor’s Body in Theatre Cultures: Presence, Figure, and Monstration
Author(s)
Date Issued
2025
Type
article
Volume
2
Issue
vol. 19
Start Page
62
End Page
80
Abstract
The aim of this essay is to illustrate the way in which the actor-performer’s body is conceived as an instance of mediation through which the mimetic sharing of the performatic experience takes place, thus highlighting to what extent the forms of writing of the actor’s body lead the spectator to forms of empathic identification. This contribution addresses the theme of the relationship between body, emotions, and language by taking the actor’s corporeal presence as an exemplary apparatus in which this triadic relation becomes observable in its most immediate and material form. The body is approached not as a metaphor or as a mere vehicle for expression, but as a semiotic and affective device whose modes of appearing, displaying and shaping gestures mediate between perceptual, emotional, and linguistic processes. The analysis of stage presence therefore offers a privileged perspective on how emotions are produced, transmitted, and interpreted through corporeal configurations, and on how these configurations articulate a form of non-verbal – yet intrinsically semiotic – language. By focusing on the pre-expressive organisation of movement, on the actor’s body schema and on the pathemic effects generated in the spectator, this essay aims to contribute to the broader interdisciplinary discussion on how emotions become meaningful through embodied forms of communication.