Semiotics of Acting

Semiotics of Acting

Semiotics of Acting is the actor’s ability to transform into a convincing character in front of the audience. The audience no longer sees the actor as a performer, but sees a character as a completely different being. Once this shift occurs, the actor becomes a semiotic device communicating a set of signs to the audience. A character’s signification can represent a multitude of different meanings to the audience. This may or may not be intended by the actor, who has limited control over how the audience will “read” the character. For example, if the actor is playing a character diagnosed with cancer, the audience may not just see a cancer patient, but may instead see a character similar to other cancer victims or survivors they have known. The actor’s performance, like any text, must be read by the audience.^[2]

However, the actor is judged by giving a convincing and believable performance. The actor’s performance is mediated by particular semiotic signs including facial expression, emotion, and vocabulary. All these examples are known as performance signs. Performance signs are simple codes that the audience must decode during the actor's performance. It is the actor’s job to deliver those codes effectively to the audience. If the audience does not find the character believable, then the actor has failed in their performance. Like other forms of communication, non-verbal or visual clues are tremendously important. Acting teacher Sanford Meisner once said, “An ounce of emotion is worth a pound of words.”^[3] Great actors master performance signs in order to win over an audience.^[4]

Acting involves two forms of communication: intrascenic (communication between characters) and extrascenic (communication between the characters and the audience). Both intrascenic and extrascenic communication must work in order for the audience to read the semiotic signs of the actor’s performance. The characters must have intrascenic skills – “good chemistry” – in a scene in order for the audience to understand the performance.^[5]

The actor represents the text of the script as performance signs. Actors bring the text to life through performance and through the personal qualities they may contribute to the narrative of script. Actors represent the ideas of the text, but also create a new visually dimensioned reality through their performance.

Becoming an actor representing semiotic signs can be a very difficult process. One must understand the performance signs, the audience, and human emotion.