Silent Character(s) in Dramatic Literature, on Stage and in Reality

A (practical) round table discussion

The fundamental structural principle of dramatic literature, speech, has been the subject of different theoretical discourses and performing strategies ever since the beginning of theatre history. The word is almost equivalent to a dramatic character. Thus it seems that the figure of a silent character is some kind of shunt, if not even a blind alley of dramatic literature, although its role – from antiquity to Shakespeare, Moliére, Chekhov, Brecht, the Theatre of the Absurd and contemporary dramatic texts – is far from negligible. Silent characters were and remain the key co-creators of great stories.

The round table discussion focuses on the dramatic figure of a silent character. Taken out of its historical supporting function, this type of character offers an interesting starting point for a renewed reflection in the context of dramatic, theatrical, political, sociologic and philosophic fields of the present. The participants Professor Svetlana Slapšak, Ph.D., Katja Čičigoj, Rok Vevar, Nenad Jelesijević, Ph.D., and Simona Hamer will tackle in their papers the silent character as a dramatic, theatrical and social figure, presenting it through definitions, theoretical perspectives, historical contexts, case studies and a debate.

The (practical) round table Silent Character(s) in Dramatic Literature, on Stage and in Reality is the accompanying part of a two-year artistic research of the playwright and dramaturg Simona Hamer.