Shamanic ritual as a source of theatricality: on the genesis of stage action

Abstract

Background.The article addresses the problem of the genesis of stage action and considers shamanic ritual as one of the early cultural forms in which the basic mechanisms of theatricality emerge. The relevance of the study is determined by the fact that, in contemporary cultural studies and theatre studies, the relationship between ritual and theatre remains methodologically significant, while shamanic ritual is more often described as a religious, ethnographic or mythological phenomenon and far less frequently analysed as a proto-theatrical form of action. Purpose.The purpose of the article is to interpret shamanic ritual as a syncretic form of sacred action that contains structural features of early theatricality and allows for a new approach to the problem of the origins of stage behaviour. Methodology.The methodological basis of the study includes historical-cultural, comparative and theatre-studies methods, as well as elements of performance analysis. The article draws on works in ritual anthropology, shamanism studies, performance theory and cultural theory of theatre. Results.It is established that shamanic ritual is not a set of isolated ceremonial actions but an integral system in which myth, sound, bodily practice, symbolic objects, altered states of consciousness and collective participation form a unified structure. The study shows that shamanic action already contains key features of theatricality: a special performer’s status, ritual transformation, marked space, the structuring role of sound, the functionality of costume and mask, organised plasticity and a dramaturgy of transition. It is argued that the shaman may be interpreted as a proto-model of the stage performer, while the ritual itself may be regarded as one of the cultural sources of stage organisation. Practical implications.The results of the study may be applied in cultural studies, theatre studies, anthropology of performance, and in courses on theatre history, ritual theory and traditional artistic culture.