Patrice Pavis is Professor for Theatre Studies at the University of Kent

University of Kent

The University of Kent, previously the University of Kent at Canterbury, is a public research university based in Kent, United Kingdom...

 in Canterbury. He has written extensively about performance

Performance

A performance, in performing arts, generally comprises an event in which a performer or group of performers behave in a particular way for another group of people, the audience. Choral music and ballet are examples. Usually the performers participate in rehearsals beforehand. Afterwards audience...

, focusing his study and research mainly in semiology and interculturalism

Interculturalism

Interculturalism is the philosophy of exchanges between cultural groups within a society, as used by nationalists of the Canadian province of Quebec. Quebeckers have historically been sensitive to any perceived degradation of their heritage...

 in theatre. He was awarded the Georges Jamati Prize in 1986.

Academic Positions

Patrice Pavis was Professor

Professor

A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...

 of Theatre Studies

Theatre studies

Theatre studies is the study of theatrical performance in relation to its literary, physical, psycho-biological, sociological, and historical contexts. It is an interdisciplinary field which also encompasses the study of theatrical aesthetics and semiotics...

 at Paris VIII University.

Concept of "Verbo-Corps"

In 1987, Pavis suggested a new theory regarding the translation of dramatic works. The idea of 'verbo-corps' has been described as "highly theoretical" and criticized for leaving "a gap between theory and translatory practice which cannot be closed". The theory suggests a culture-specific union between language and gesture used subconsciously by every writer. Pavis suggested that the translator needed to be to able to comprehend the union in the original and reconstruct it in the translation.

Mahābhārata

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....

When director Peter Brook

Peter Brook

Peter Stephen Paul Brook CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director and innovator, who has been based in France since the early 1970s.-Life:...

 produced his collaboration of Mahābhārata

Mahabharata

The Mahabharata is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India and Nepal, the other being the Ramayana. The epic is part of itihasa....

with Jean-Claude Carrière

Jean-Claude Carrière

Jean-Claude Carrière is a screenwriter and actor. Alumnus of the École normale supérieure de Saint-Cloud, he was a frequent collaborator with Luis Buñuel...

, Pavis criticized the adaptation of the Indian epic for promoting a cultural "Disney homogenization and uniformity".

Published works

• Problèmes de sémiologie théâtrale, Presses de l'Université du Québec (1976)
• Languages of the Stage: Essays in the Semiology of Theatre, PAJ Publications (1982)
• Voix et images de la scène: vers une sémiologie de la réception, Presses universitaires de Lille (1985)
• Marivaux à l'épreuve de la scène, Université de Paris-III (1986)
• Dictionaire du Theatre Messidors/Editions Sociales (1987)
• Le théâtre au croisement des cultures, Jose Corti (1990)
• The Intercultural Performance Reader, Routledge (1996) (Ed.)
• L'analyse des spectacles: théâtre, mime, danse, danse-théâtre, cinéma, Armand Colin (2005)
• La mise en scène contemporaine: origines, tendances, perspectives, Armand Colin (2007)

Links

Professor's Patrice Pavis profile at the University of Kent Website