| Abstract [eng] |
This master’s thesis analyzes the stage production Dorian, directed by American theatre artist Robert Wilson and premiered at the National Kaunas Drama Theatre in 2022, as an embodiment of intersemiotic translation principles. The performance is based on Oscar Wilde’s novel “The Picture of Dorian Gray” (1890), yet it is not a direct stage adaptation of this literary text. Its dramaturgical foundation also includes the play “Dorian” (2021) by American playwright Darryl Pinckney, which incorporates biographical motifs not only from Wilde’s own life but also from that of British painter Francis Bacon. The result is a fragmented, collage-like narrative structure that opens up possibilities for polysemic theatrical translation, where text, image, movement, sound, and rhythm function as autonomous interrelated systems of meaning-making. The methodological basis of the thesis relies on the concepts of intersemiotic translation and adaptation, based on Roman Jakobson’s linguistic theory of translation (1959) as well as insights from Naciye Saglam (2022) and Raili Lass (2023). The thesis also introduces the context of postdramatic theatre, identifying key features outlined by Hans-Thies Lehmann (2010), such as narrative fragmentation, visual prioritization, and deconstructive dramaturgy. A separate section is devoted to analyzing Wilson’s creative methodology, with particular focus on his signature visual language, slow-paced choreography, and musical composition structure. The performance “Dorian” is examined as an instance of intersemiotic translation, analyzing various levels of theatrical language, including dramaturgy, verbal expression, choreography, sound structure, scenography, and the structuring of time. The thesis explores how Wilson employs theatrical signs not as illustrations of a literary text, but as tools for constructing aesthetic meaning. The character of Dorian is portrayed by two actors – Dainius Svobonas and Mantas Zemleckas – dividing the role not only into temporal life stages, but also into expressions of inner and outer identity. This duality reinforces, expands, and reconfigures the core ideas found in Wilde’s novel. |
