Korzenie teatru z perspektywy performatywno-medialnej

Abstract

This article discusses the issue of cultural roots of theater as analyzed from the point of view of performance and media studies. Its starting point is a critical reading of the well-known book by Eli Rozik, The Roots of Theatre, as well as a debate with some theses held by anthropologists of spectacle, whereby the author is able to point out essential points of his own outlook on the origins of theatre. These are as follows: 1) theater and ritual are live performances, and from the media studies perspective, they are human and iconic media; 2) the roots of theater are manifold (polygenesis); 3) the roots of theatre should not be sought either in the psyche or in prehistory—in both cases, it is about performativity, not theatricality; 4) theatre emerges in sufficiently developed civilizations, in a specific performative environment from which it draws patterns of stage behavior. It means that initially, theater is a medium stitched from other media (in analogy to the rhapsodist stitching songs together). In ancient Greece, theater as a religious and state medium emerged within the framework of the Dionysian festival, which functioned as a vortex of behavior attracting other forms of rituals, spectacles, and contests and afforded many pretexts for implementing various performance art conventions in theatre. Evidence of theater’s heterogeneity in this respect can be found in Aristophanes’ comedies and in medieval performances.

Keywords

• theater history
• theater as medium
• performance studies
• media studies
• eli rozik