4 from ritual to theater and back: the efficacy ... - AAAARG.ORG

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magnitudes of performance
7 Macrodrama: large-scale social actions viewed performatively –
what Turner calls “social drama” where whole communities act
through their collective crises.
As we understand the relationships among these seven magnitudes –
how, especially, the smaller are elicited, manipulated, and then composed
into the larger and how the larger deport meanings down to
the smaller – I think theorists will be able to better distinguish
“performativity” from its close relations, “theatricality” and “narrativity.”
Performativity is present in all seven magnitudes but most
decisively at levels 1, 2, and 3: the brain event, microbit, and bit.
Theatricality begins with level 3, the bit, and is dominant at levels
4 and 5, the sign and the scene. Theatricality is absorbed as scene
into levels 6 and 7, dramas and macrodramas. Narrativity begins at
level 5, the scene, and is dominant at levels 6 and 7, the drama
and macrodrama.
Ekman’s work centers on performativity. Birdwhistell focuses on the
area between performativity and theatricality. Goffman deals with theatricality.
Turner, during most of his life, was concerned with narrativity
– his theory of social drama can best be understood as a theory of
performed narrative. Toward the end of his life, Turner became more
and more interested in performativity, thus his speculations in “Body,
Brain, and Culture” (1983).
Performativity – or, commonly, “performance” – is everywhere in life,
from ordinary gestures to macrodramas. But theatricality and narrativity
are more limited, if only slightly so. Differences in degree of magnitude
do lead to differences in kind. Aesthetic genres – theater, dance,
music – are framed theatrically, signaling the intentions of their composers
to their publics. Other genres are frequently not so clearly
marked – but this does not make them any less performative. And
although performativity permeates all seven magnitudes, it doesn’t
work the other way round. There is neither narrativity nor theatricality
in a brain event. Performer training begins below the level of theatricality
or narrativity; workshops and rehearsals often deal at these subtheatrical,
sub-narrative levels. Scholars who want to understand these
formative processes must not focus on shows put on for the public –
even Goffmanian performances of everyday life – but must attend to