Il teatro è un medium? Questioni e risposte in prosettiva "mediologica"

Abstract

Strictly following the arguments from McLuhan’s well-known book Understanding Media, the essay examines the question whether the theatre can be properly considered as a medium or not. Interestingly enough none of the chapters in the second part of the book (where every single medium receives a detailed analysis, from the spoken and the written word to the television and the automation) has been specifically devoted to theatre. The reason why is that theatre is probably not a medium, namely «an extension of themselves [i.e., human beings] in any material other than themselves», as McLuhan argues. A theatrical performance can be filled with any kind of media, such as simple tools or sophisticated electronic equipments, but its basic material essentially consists of human behaviours and interactions. Likewise, is worth noting that McLuhan includes games in the list of media, since they are “extensions of group awareness”: «They are a kind of talking to itself on the part of society as a whole».