Journal of African Studies and Sustainable Development

The concepts of aesthetics and semiotics have been extensively studied in fields such as photography and linguistics. While there has been research to understand their impact in arts, particularly performance art, few studies have considered theatre design. Although the primary function of all elements of theatre design is aesthetics, they also serve the purpose of communicating and interpreting symbolically. This symbolic communication is regarded as the semiotics of theatre design. However, the interpretation and communication of theatre design vary depending on the context of its use. This essay aims to prove the legitimacy of this claim through qualitative methodology, and analysis of the paradigms adopted for this research. The researcher finds that, indeed, theatre design serves as a functioning element in performative arts, despite being a non-verbal communication mode. Thus, theatre design possesses aesthetic, communicative, and interpretative abilities through a comprehensive study of its usage in both theatrical and non-theatrical performances.

Open Full Text (PDF)