Theatricality [Edited by Tracy C.Davis and Thomas Postlewait, 2003]

1. Theatricality: an introduction (P.1 -39)

• P.1 It [Theatricality] can be defined exclusively as a specific type of performance style or inclusively as all the semiotic codes of theatrical representation.
• P.2 Sometimes, for example, theatricality has been identified with both the Greek idea of mimesis and the Latin idea of theatrum mundi.

I (P.4 -16)

• P.4 The first thing to make clear is that theatricality is not necessarily the antonym of what Jonas Barish calls "antitheatricalism," even though they have an obvious etymological relation and, more importantly, a definite historical bearing on each other.
• P.6 Just as theatricality has been used to describe the gap between reality and its representation - a concept for which there is a perfectly good and very specific term, mimesis - it has also been used to describe the "heightened" states when everyday reality is exceeded by its representation. The breakthrough into performance helps to distinguish theatre from other kinds of artistic types or media as well as from the more pervasive (滲透的) utility of role playing. A breakthrough into performance may involve impersonation, but it may just as easily be the continuous presentation of one's customary persona. When the spectator's role is not to recognize reality but to create an alternative through complicity in the "heightening" of the breakthrough into performance, then both performer and spectator are complicit in the mimesis.

II (P.16-34)