The Semiotics of Theatre: Costume Chapter Notes

The Semiotics of Theatre: The Theatrical Code as a System
(p. 83-92)
Erika Fisher-Lichte

The notes from this book have been unbelievebaly informative and usefull for both of my Unit 2 Word & Image documents as well as my general understanding of costume and identity, which I have no doubts will inform my practice.

Notes:
> Constitutes an actor's external appearance.
> Costume is more predominant that make-up or hair, as it is easier to perceive in purely quantitative terms.
> As a rule, the audience's first identification of a character is based on the costume.
> This relationship already appears to be developed and ordained by the social meaning of clothing: functions of theatrical costume largely coincide with the functions of which clothing can fulfill in social life.
> James Laver comes to the conclusion, "it would not be far off the mark to say that all clothes for special occasions and stylized clothes of any kind are, in effect, theatrical costume. We are at least on safe ground in suggesting that all clothes are in origin theatrical costumes."
> Clothing in particular functions as one such means of identifying oneself, Erving Goffman refers to it in this sense as an "Identity document". For clothing informs others relatively quickly and completely about the role it's wearer wishes to play. In this way it gives rise to certain expectations with regard to the future behaviour.
> Units of costume are: material, colour and form. they collaborate to give different meanings, which all relate to the identity of the person and/or character.
> Clothing is capable of communicating: age, gender, religion, distinction between social classes, status, occupation, culture/ ethnicity, climate region, historical function.
> In life these clothes have a practicality connectes (eg. labourer's uniform and it's movement and comfort). However it loses this quality when it becomes a theatrical costume (as it denotes the clothing of character x).
> Costume in theatre has no practical function to serve.
> Costume can also draw on mythological codes, govern the appearance of: Gods, angels, demons, figures from fables as well as animals.
> Use of costume as a means of specific characterization was developed above all in western theatre int his century.
> Costume is also capable of performing general symbolic function which are not exclusively related to character, but rather to the entire performance; underline the meaning of a character (eg. protagonists wear bright colours and supporting/ secondary characters wear 'colourless' muddy tones).
> A distinction has to be made between movements which are imposed by the costume and those which are called for by the costume. (eg. Skin tight dress and heels do not permit long strides; whalebone corset& farthingale permit only measured upright movements).
> Such disparencies are frequently employed as a medium for characterizing the figure, thus the character's identity emerges.
> However external appearances only provide the outlienof an identity, sketching the contours of a role that in concrete form arouses expectations which have to be met. This concretization is performed by the actor through his actions. The linguistic and paralinguistic, mimic, gestural and proxemic signs he produces fill the role outlined by the external appearance with concrete. Concluding the character's identity only takes shape in the course of a process.
> A character's identity cannot be fully constituted solely by external appearance.