ABSTRACT
This chapter adopts a multimodal social semiotic approach to exploring how various semiotic resources are exploited for meaning making in theatrical performances. The approach is based on Michael Halliday’s (1978) social semiotics, where language and other semiotic resources are viewed as resources for making meaning. Halliday’s social semiotic approach, developed as systemic-functional theory (SFT), views semiotic resources as systems of meaning that fulfill a range of functions in human communication. The systems of meaning are unique to each semiotic resource, but configurations of system choices work together in order to construct thought and reality in specific ways. In this case, the aim is to explore how choices from semiotic resources, such as language, images, lighting, and sounds, combine to create particular effects in theatrical performances.
