The Face as a Stage: Roberto Bacci’s Hamlet
The Face as a Stage: Roberto Bacci’s Hamlet

Author(s): Jerzy Limon
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Cultural history, Theoretical Linguistics, Applied Linguistics, Studies of Literature, Philology, Theory of Literature, British Literature
Published by: Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego
Keywords: theory of the theatre; Roberto Bacci; Hamlet; Shakespeare
Summary/Abstract: This article touches upon theoretical issues of the theatre, and the basic source used to exemplify the thesis is Roberto Bacci’s Hamlet. In this production, the actors wear fencing masks and costumes, and when they uncover their faces, they become particular fictional figures. However, after they have played their role in a given scene, and put the masks back on, the meaning they carried evaporates or is reset. This means that when they uncover their face again, they can assume the role of someone else. The essay analyses the rules of the theatre that enable transformations of this kind.

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