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Kinesics applied to interpreterstheatreLeslie Irene Coger a & Sharron Pelham ba Professor of Speech and Theatre , Southwest MissouriState Universityb Instructor of English and Dramatics , Central HighSchool , Springfield, Mo.Published online: 18 May 2009.

To cite this article: Leslie Irene Coger & Sharron Pelham (1975) Kinesics applied tointerpreters theatre, The Speech Teacher, 24:2, 91-99, DOI: 10.1080/03634527509378136

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The SPEECH TEACHERVOL. XXIV, No. 2 MARCH, 1975

KINESICS APPLIED TO INTERPRETERS THEATRE

Leslie Irene Coger and Sharron Pelham

IN the last two decades there has beenincreasing research into the role of

movement behavior in the communica-tion process. Early in the 1950's anthro-pologist Ray L. Birdwhistell, pioneer in-vestigator in the area, coined the term"kinesics" to refer to this study of bodylanguage.1 "Kinesics" encompasses thestudy of all body movement of communi-cative value: facial expression, posture,leanings, muscular tensions, body shifts,head nods, and other small and largebody movements. The list of prominentbody movement researchers includesBirdwhistell, Paul Ekman, WallaceFriesen, Albert Scheflen, and AlbertMehrabian. The importance of bodylanguage in the communication systemis underscored by Michael Argyle's 1970study which suggests that nonverbal cuesmay be more than four times as effectiveas language cues in transmitting atti-tudes.2 Although research methods are

Ms. Coger is Professor of Speech and Theatreat Southwest Missouri State University. Ms.Pelham is Instructor of English and Dramaticsat Central High School, Springfield, Mo.

1 Ray L. Birdwhistell, Introduction to Ki-nesics (Louisville: University of Louisville Press,1952), p. 3. (Photo-offset, Foreign Service Insti-tute.)

2 M. Argyle, V. Salter, H. Nicholson, M. Wil-liams, and P. Burgess, "The Communicationof Inferior and Superior Attitudes by Verbaland Nonverbal Signals," British Journal ofSocial and Clinical Psychology, 9 (Sept. 1970),230.

THE SPEECH TEACHER, Vol. 24, March 1975

still being perfected, these initial studiescan be extremely helpful to solo per-formers as well as participants in Inter-preters Theatre in transmitting the atti-tudes and emotions beneath the spokentext. The ideas expressed here applyequally to actors and solo interpreters;however, this article will pinpoint, fromthe mushrooming corpus of body move-ment research, the usefulness of particu-lar kinesics principles to InterpretersTheatre participants.

It has long been recognized that lan-guage contains actions. Early in thetwentieth century Charlotte Wolff statedin A Psychology of Gesture that "thoughtcontains a 'motor potential' which tendsto discharge in movement."3 R. P. Black-mur published a book on poetry analy-sis in the early fifties with the title Lan-guage As Gesture.4 Wallace Bacon in histext, The Art of Interpretation, calls forcongruence between the gestures of theinterpreter and the gestures of the litera-ture.5 Samuel Selden in The First Stepsin Acting divided movement into ap-proach and withdrawal categories.6

David Thompson and Virginia Fredricks

3 Trans. Anne Tennant, 2nd ed. (London:Methuen & Co., Ltd., 1948).

4 (New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1952).5 2nd ed. (New York: Holt, Rinehart and

Winston, 1972).6 2nd ed. (New York: Appleton-Century-

Cross, 1964).

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noted, "Interpretation features whatevercannot be said directly but which can beimplied as symbolic action."7

These scholars have recognized thatwords have inherent action and thatthese words supply only the verbal text,supported by a subtext of emotions andattitudes which are the most importantpart of the communication process. In-terpreters Theatre participants, whomust share the full complexity of litera-ture with an audience while utilizing adenned space, must know how to traintheir bodies, control their bodies, anduse their bodies to aid them in com-municating the subtext of the literature.It is the purpose of this article to explorethe principles evolving from kinesic re-search that can help the interpreterreach these goals more effectively.

Although basic differences exist amongtheorists, there are certain tenets com-monly held. Perhaps most importantlyfor the oral interpreter, all qualified re-searchers emphasize that no body move-ment can be interpreted in isolation.8

Kinesicists carefully point out that bodymovement means something only if theremainder of the context accompanyinga particular motion suggests the samemeaning. The smile, for instance, cansignal happiness, nervousness, fear, oreven pain. Its precise meaning can beinterpreted only from a knowledge ofthe social context within which it occursand from the additional movementwhich accompanies it. R. A. Hindenoted that when we meet a stranger, we

7 David W. Thompson and Virginia Fred-ricks, Oral Interpretation of Fiction (Minne-apolis: Burgess Publishing Co., 1964), p. 41.

8 See, for example, Ray L. Birdwhistell,Kinesics and Context (Philadelphia: Universityof Pennsylvania Press, 1970); Albert Mehrabianand Martin Williams, "Nonverbal Concomitantsof Perceived and Intended Persuasiveness,"Journal of Personality and Social Psychology,13 (Sept. 1969), 58; and Nico H. Frijda, "FacialExpression and Situational Cues," Journal ofAbnormal and Social Psychology, 57 (Sept.1958), 149-154.

take in small details of how he stands,the way he uses his hands, his eye move-ments, and his facial expression fromwhich we form an immediate impressionof his character.9 Thus, the InterpretersTheatre participant cannot rely on oneor two particular aspects of body move-ment to communicate the subtext of theliterature; rather, the whole organismmust be trained to respond with econ-omy, selectivity, clarity, and power.

In addition to the universal emphasison context by body movement research-ers, the interpreter should know thatmost kinesicists recognize that cultureinfluences body movement behavior.This influence is most obvious in the dif-ferent meanings attributed . to identicalgestures in various cultures. The "comehere" hand gesture of the United Statesis the "goodbye" gesture in Greece andItaly. To approach a Greek with thepalm of the hand up is an insult. Ofmore importance to the interpreter thanthis obvious cultural difference, is therole social learning plays in kinesic be-havior. As Ekman and Friesen's studiesshow, social learning teaches individualsto respond to the same stimuli with vari-ous emotions and attitudes.10 The par-ticipant in Interpreters Theatre willtherefore find it helpful to know whatstimuli are taught in each culture toevoke particular responses. Such knowl-edge will enable the production to relatemore of the complexities of the litera-ture's subtext to the audience. For in-stance, the word "funeral" evokes dif-ferent affects (emotions and attitudes) invarious cultures. To respond with sad-ness to a funeral set in a culture in whichthe learned social response is joy, wouldchange the entire meaning of the scene.

9 R. A. Hinde, ed., Non-Verbal Communi-cation (Cambridge: University Press, 1972), p. x.

10 Paul Ekman and Wallace V. Friesen,"Constants Across Cultures in the Face andEmotion," Journal of Personality and SocialPsychology, 17 (Feb. 1971), 129.

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Although it is not necessary for theoral interpreter to understand all theintricacies o£ kinesics, a knowledge ofsome basic concepts can help him to ap-ply the findings of body movement re-search to Interpreters Theatre. The fol-lowing discussion will outline some ofthese concepts, including redundancyand contradiction, facial expression, lit-eral gestures, random body movements,regulators, display rules, metaphors forfeeling, and postural configurations.

Studies indicate that body movementcan effectively relate emotions withoutverbal communication. In 1964 DianaThompson and Leo Meltzer conductedan experiment to discover how well col-lege students could convey their emo-tional intent to their peers by facial ex-pression alone. Their findings indicatedthat the expressions were recognized ac-curately much more often than possibleby mere chance.11 This insight can behelpful in adapting prose fiction for In-terpreters Theatre. An adapter who mustcut a script to a prescribed time lengthcan eliminate some of the long passagesof narration which describe the emo-tional reactions of a character. Throughbody language the affect can be ex-pressed to the audience without thenecessity of lengthy verbal description.

Functioning concurrently with verballanguage, kinesic behavior can reinforceor it can contradict the verbal content.When body language reinforces the mes-sage of the spoken language that it ac-companies, the redundancy seems to in-tensify the strength of the message. Bird-whistell noted, "Multi-channel reinforce-ment makes it possible for a far widerrange within the population to becomepart of and to contribute to the conven-tional understandings of the community

11 Diana Frumkes Thompson and Leo Melt-zer, "Communication of Emotional Intent byFacial Expression," Journal of Abnormal andSocial Psychology, 68 (Feb. 1964), 129-135.

than if we were a species with only asingle-channel lexical storehouse."12

Of particular interest to the interpre-ter is the research which seems to indi-cate that when contradictory messagesare received, one vocal and the otherkinesic, the message from body move-ment will rule.13 Michael Argyle and hisassociates concluded that the handlingof interpersonal relationships nonverbal-ly is more socially accepted since individ-uals customarily find such matters diffi-cult to discuss openly. Reliance on bodymovement for attitude communicationallows relationships to remain more flex-ible and vague.14 If indeed the body isthe primary communicator of attitudesas initial research suggests, the Interpre-ters Theatre participant needs to focusmore of his attention on what the bodyis saying than on what the voice is saying.Without awareness and control of hisbody, the interpreter may contradict theverbal text where no such contradictionis indicated by the literature's subtext,thus communicating a meaning incon-sistent with a proper interpretation ofthe literature.

Kinesic researchers Jerry Boucher, Sil-van Tompkins, Allen Dittmann, PaulEkman, and Wallace Friesen have allconducted experiments which supportthe oral interpreter's long recognitionthat the face is important in affect com-munication.15 Although valid, this em-

12 Birdwhistell, Kinesics and Context, p. 137.13 Albert Mehrabian, Silent Messages (Bel-

mont, Cal.: Wadsworth Publishing Co., Inc.,1971), pp. 42-50.

14 Argyle, p. 230.15 Jerry D. Boucher, "Facial Displays of Fear,

Sadness, and Pain," Perceptual and Motor Skills,28 (Feb. 1969), 239-242; Silvan S. Tomkins andRobert McCarter, "What and Where Are thePrimary Affects?" Perceptual and Motor Skills,18 (Jan. 1964), 119-158; Allen T. Dittmann,Morris B. Parloff, and Donald S. Boomer,"Facial and Bodily Expression: A Study of Re-ceptivity of Emotional Cues," Psychiatry, 28,No. 3 (1965), 239-244; Paul Ekman, "DifferentialCommunication of Affect by Head and BodyCues," Journal of Personality and Social Psy-chology, 2 (May 1965), 726-735; and Paul Ek-

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94 THE SPEECH TEACHER

phasis by performers on the function offacial expression has unfortunately oftenresulted in a de-emphasis on the role ofthe total body in communicating atti-tudes. This neglect necessitates that pres-ent investigation of the use of nonverbalcommunication in Interpreters Theatreshould center on the role of the wholebody. The purpose of this shift in em-phasis is not to negate the function offacial expression; rather, it is an attemptto compensate for the lack of balance inpast practice.

The interpreter should be aware ofthe limited function of literal gestures,nonverbal acts for which there is a di-rect verbal translation or dictionary defi-nition.16 Within this particular culturethe soldier's salute, the traveler's wave,and the teacher's point all have preciseverbal definitions. The usefulness ofthese literal gestures is limited since theydo not communicate affect. Birdwhistellhas noted that these literal gestures arealways modified by accompanying bodymovement which relates the attitude ofthe sender. For instance, the salute canconvey respect or rebellion, dependingon the accompanying body signals.17 Theadapter of the Interpreters Theatre pro-duction who must cut a script to a speci-fied time length, can substitute literalgestures for some narration. Early inJohn Knowles' novel A Separate Peace,Mr. Patchwithers comes to Gene andFinny's room to reprimand them. Im-mediately Finny breaks into a long ex-planation, which Mr. Patchwithers at-tempts unsuccessfully to interrupt.Much of the explanatory narration can

man and Wallace V. Friesen, "Head and BodyCues in the Judgment of Emotion: A Reformu-lation," Perceptual and Motor Skills, 24 (June1967), 721.

16 Paul Ekman and Wallace V. Friesen, "TheRepertoire of Nonverbal Behavior: Categories,Origins, Usage, Coding," Semiotica, 1, No. 1(1969), 63.

17 Birdwhistell, Kinesics and Context, pp.151-153.

be eliminated by directing Finny to talkon and on while Mr. Patchwithers raiseshis hand and points at Finny in the off-stage scene. The gesture is literal and isimmediately understood. The facial ex-pression of Mr. Patchwithers and thetone of his entire body can modify theliteral gestures to show the accompany-ing attitude.

Participants in Interpreters Theatreneed to be conscious of random bodyshifts that have no apparent significanceto the human communication system.Early in his research Birdwhistell noteda category of kinesic research which helabeled "pre kinesic."18 He expoundedon the meaning of the term later whenhe noted, "All of the observable shiftsof the body are not of equal significanceto the human communicational sys-tem."19 In Interpreters Theatre it is de-sirable to reduce such random bodymovements in order to enhance the com-munication of the subtext. The speakinginterpreter who incorporates unmean-ingful kinesic activity can cause the com-municated emotion or attitude to beconfused or lost. Like the verbally stam-mering speaker who gives the audienceextra sounds, the kinesically stammeringinterpreter gives the audience extramovements and makes the meaning diffi-cult to identify.

Elimination of unmeaningful bodymovement is especially relevant to non-speaking interpreters and to interpreterswho are not in a given scene. Since anybody shift can take focus, a randomkinesic act by a non-speaking or out ofscene interpreter can cause an importantbody movement to be missed by the audi-ence. These random body movementscan actually be regarded as static in re-lation to the main communicationalcontext. Such kinesic static interferes

18 Birdwhistell, Introduction to Kinesics, p. 3.19 Birdwhistell, Kinesics and Context, p. 98.

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with the imaging capacity of the audi-ence. The process of identifying andeliminating kinesic stammer and kinesicstatic is aided by a systematic study ofbody movement research.

This kinesic static does not include thelistening interpreter's use of regulators,those movements of the listener as he re-sponds and reacts to the speaker.20 Infact the failure of interpreters to usebody movements as regulators can resultin an unsuccessful Interpreters Theatreproduction. The listener uses head nods,eye contacts, body shifts, eyebrow move-ments, head twists, and other small actsto say, "I am interested," "I don't be-lieve you," "You are boring," "Go fast-er," "You are hurting me." The im-portance and function of regulators isevident in Tennessee Williams' playSummer and Smoke. In one scene Almatalks for three pages without givingJohn, the only other person present, anychance to speak. Since theatre implies in-teraction, only the use of regulators byJohn keeps that scene from becoming aone-woman show.

According to Ekman the use of par-ticular regulators and the frequency oftheir appearance are related to ethnicity,social class, culture, sex, and other dif-ferences.21 For example, frequent headnodding and frequent smiling imply aless confident or more submissive qualityto observers.22 In Interpreters Theatrethe listening interpreter should use withcorrect frequency those regulators ap-propriate for the particular character ashe exists in the literature's createdworld. Again in Summer and Smoke, the

2 0 Albert E. Scheflen, Body Language andSocial Order (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1972), pp. 61-74; Ekman and Friesen,"The Repertoire of Nonverbal Behavior," pp.82-84.

2 1 Ekman and Friesen, "The Repertoire ofNonverbal Behavior," p. 83.

2 2 Mehrabian and Williams, "Nonverbal Con-comitants of Perceived and Intended Persuasive-ness," p. 55.

regulators that the interpreter of Johnchooses to use in the scene with Almawill reveal to the audience much aboutthe culture, class, and attitude of John.The absence of regulators would leavethe character of John underdeveloped,while the presence of inappropriate reg-ulators would leave John wrongly de-veloped.

Vital to Interpreters Theatre is Ek-man and Friesen's discussion of displayrules, which they believe determine howindividuals manage emotional reactionsin -various social settings, roles, and cul-tures.23 Basically, individuals either de-intensify the appearance clues for agiven emotion, overintensify the appear-ance clues, look neutral, or hide the feltaffect by replacing it with another emo-tion or attitude.21 In My Fair Lady, thespectators of the nobility and the upperclass are highly aroused as they watchthe horse race. However, their socialclass dictates that they not display strongemotion, so they de-intensify the overtsigns of excitement. Conversely, the par-ticipants on most television give-awayprograms tend to over-intensify the dis-play of their feelings. In Death of aSalesman, after Biff discovers his fatherwith another woman in a hotel room,Willy attempts to hide the panic he feelsby laughing and displaying joy.

The participant in Interpreters The-atre needs to know what display rule isoperative for each character in the socialstructure established by the literature.An interpreter operating under the dis-play rule appropriate for himself ratherthan those appropriate for the charactercan cause the subtext of the literature tobe altered. A college girl of the 1970'swho follows the casual and free displayrules appropriate for her own generation

2 3 Ekman and Friesen, "The Repertoire ofNonverbal Behavior," p . 75.

2 4 Ekman and Friesen, "The Repertoire ofNonverbal Behavior," p . 75.

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as she attempts to interpret Gwendolenin The Importance of Being Ernest, willseriously change the intended meaningof the play.

Immediately applicable to InterpretersTheatre are the metaphors for feelingoutlined by Albert Mehrabian. He hasdivided body behavior signals into threedimensions of meaning and feeling: lik-ing or positiveness, dominance or status,and responsiveness. He theorizes thatvarious combinations of these three pri-mary feeling dimensions allow us toexpress even the most subtle nuances offeeling and to read the most complexfeelings of others. The codes used to readthese behavior signals are based on a fewmetaphors which he believes are the un-conscious guidelines for each person's ac-tions and reactions.25 Although they areused unconsciously in life, conscious useof these metaphors by the interpretercan enhance his in-depth performance.

The like-dislike dimension of humanattitude depends on the immediacy orproxemic metaphor, which refers tocloseness, reaching out, approaching.26

It deals with space relationships and thefilling of space. The basis for this meta-phor is obvious since people clearly ap-proach and get more involved withthings that they like, and they avoid andstay more detached from things that theydislike. This principle is illustrated ina common reaction to unpleasant smells.Perception of such odors is indicated firstby upturned noses, a response that sug-gests withdrawal. Individuals next turntheir heads in an attempt to separatetheir sense of smell from the unpleasantodor, and finally they walk away fromthe smell.

The same actions are obvious in socialinteractions. Of course a person is notsocially permitted in most circumstances

2 5 Mehrabian, Silent Messages, pp . 111-113.2 6 Mehrabian, Silent Messages, pp . 113-114.

to approach physically or move awayfrom someone while he is discussing asubject. But individuals do use abbrevi-ated approach or withdrawal movementssuch as shifting the weight to the backor the front foot, turning the head toallow eye contact, averting the face, orleaning toward or away from anotherwhile seated.27 The recognition thatmany attitudes are generally conveyedby abbreviated or covert movements isof particular interest to InterpretersTheatre participants who attempt to con-vey the attitudes beneath the spoken textwhile utilizing a defined space.

Mehrabian's second dimension, domi-nance or status, is based on the power orfearlessness metaphor. Simply, the indi-vidual of higher status or greater domi-nance will exhibit more power and lessfear in relation to the other interactants.Power coexists with large size; thus, theindividual who struts rather than shuf-fles is considered to possess more power.28

An example of this power metaphor canbe seen in Ken Kesey's One Flew Overthe Cuckoo's Nest. The big nurse pos-sesses power over Billy, so she standstaller than Billy. A director of an Inter-preters Theatre production of this playcould highlight the dominance of thebig nurse by utilizing the power meta-phor. Broad, expansive movements anderect, decisive posture on the part of thenurse would reinforce her dominant role.

Status is also shown by the absence offear, which is most reliably indicated bybody relaxation. The individual ofpower or higher status can afford to re-lax.29 An asymmetric placement of armsand legs, higher rates of rocking and ges-ticulation, and lower rates of trunk swiv-el seem to indicate greater relaxation toobservers. A high status individual maylean sideways and recline slightly when

2 7 Mehrabian, Silent Messages, pp . 2-3.2 8 Mehrabian, Silent Messages, p p . 24-27.2 9 Mehrabian, Silent Messages, p . 28.

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he is seated. Lack of relaxation* is evidentin frequent head nodding, frequent smil-ing, and frequent blinking, all of whichimply a submissive quality to an audi-ence.30 The interpreter may find it diffi-cult to convey the status of a characterthrough the correct degree of relaxa-tion. While eliminating his own per-sonal tensions, it is necessary for the in-terpreter to project the proper tensionsfor the character interpreted. This pro-jection demands that the interpreterpossess a trained, controlled, and flexi-ble body.

Mehrabian's third primary feeling di-mension, responsiveness, is associatedwith the metaphor of life and vitality.31

In reacting to another person, individ-uals shift the direction of their look,their facial expressions change, they talkrather than remain silent. All of theseresponses are performed with a particu-lar energy level which reveals the de-gree of responsiveness experienced. Thegreater the response, the more alive eachpart of the body becomes. The face evi-dences more movement, the eyelidsblink faster, the arms and hands gesticu-late more. The importance of an arriv-ing guest at a party can be gauged bythe energy level of the hosts as they greethim. The quickness of their steps andthe depth of their breathing are but twoclues to the energy level present. Othelloresponds more completely to Iago thanhe does to his other servants; thus, hisbody comes more alive as Iago relatesa message.

In Interpreters Theatre the speakinginterpreter and the listening interpreterneed equally to demonstrate the appro-priate responsiveness by performingovert actions with the correct energylevel. The force of their head nods, thequickness and degree of their postural

3 0 Mehrabian, Silent Messages, p . 29.3 1 Mehrabian, Silent Messages, p . 116.

shifts, the depth and speed of theirbreaths are clues to the responsivenessexperienced by the characters. As ex-plained by Ekman's display rules, theenergy felt may be contained or releasedby a respondent according to the socialcontext or the social background of theindividual. If contained, the interpretermust exhibit the tensions arising out ofunreleased energy.

Tying into Mehrabian's metaphors arethe works of several researchers on pos-ture. Configurations of posture or bodyposition can tell an individual at aglance much about what is going on inan interaction. Ekman contends that pos-ture is less controlled than the face orvoice. Consequently, there may be whathe terms "leakage" of attitude or affect.32

For example, a display rule may dictatethat anxiety not show in the face orvoice, but it may appear in the postureof an individual. Interpreters Theatreparticipants can make use of these pos-ture studies, especially those of Schefien,who outlines three dimensions of pos-tural relations found in interactions.

First is inclusiveness or non-inclusive-ness, which establishes accessibility tothe group as well as access within thegroup. The amount of space individualsuse in an interaction depends uponstatus, ethnicity, sex, level of intimacy,nature of business, and space available.33

For instance, two women of equal statusand age who are good friends will standcloser together when talking than willa society woman of middle age and ayoung saleswoman. The kind of relation-ship existing and the kind of interactionoccurring within a group can be judgedfrom the posture of the group members.If there is no need for privacy or if there

3 2 Paul Ekman and Wallace V. Friesen, "Non-verbal Leakage and Clues to Deception," Psy-chiatry, 32, No. 1 (1969), 88-106.

3 3 Albert E. Scheflen, "The Significance ofPosture in Communication Systems," Psychiatry,27, No. 4 (1964), 325.

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is a low level of intimacy to be indicated,the interactants stand open to allow oth-ers access. If they wish to keep the con-versation private, they may well closeoff accessibility when others approach.The conversationalists may indicate theirdesire by turning inward or even byputting an arm up in a right or leftakimbo. In an Interpreters Theatre pro-duction of West Side Story, the Sharkscould use Scheflen's ideas on accessibilityto project a closed response when Tonyapproaches.

Scheflen's second postural dimensionis body orientation, which he outlines aseither vis a vis or parallel.34 From hisresearch, Scheflen conjectures that vis avis body orientation suggests confronta-tion. Of course he recognizes the limita-tions imposed by the social context. Apair of lovers seated across from eachother in a restaurant booth would notbe engaged in confrontation. Likewise,parallel positions may occur accidental-ly, but side by side positions can sug-gest affiliation or cooperation. Usuallyadditional behavior accompanies theparallel positioning if affiliation is pres-ent. The interactants will turn slightlytoward each other to indicate together-ness, or they may turn slightly away toindicate the opposite.

In Interpreters Theatre the interpre-ters are often haphazardly placed inparallel positions. Although someamount of parallel positioning cannotbe avoided, additional cues can beadded to highlight the kinds of relation-ships existing among the characters.Without careful use of such cues, theaudience may unconsciously interpretaffiliation when no such relationship ex-ists. This lack of additional clues couldcause the kinesic behavior to contradictthe spoken text when no such contradic-

tion exists in the actual subtext of theliterature. As noted earlier, studies haveindicated that, when body language con-tradicts verbal communication, the non-verbal communication will be believed.

The third dimension outlined byScheflen is congruence or non-congru-ence, which refers to the similar bodypositioning of the members of a group.Scheflen observed from his research thatit is common for the members of a groupholding opposite views also to maintainopposite postural configurations.35 Sinceconflict is central to theatre, InterpretersTheatre participants should learn to in-corporate consciously into their interpre-tation these normally unconscious pos-tural shifts. In West Side Story, the Jetswould tend to take on similar posturalalignments while the Sharks would man-ifest differing ones.

This concept of congruence cangreatly aid the director of an Interpre-ters Theatre production, especially aproduction involving adaptation ofprose fiction. The narrator in prose fic-tion stands between the reader and theaction of the story, allowing only whathe wishes to be seen and known by thereader. Scheflen's postural dimensions,particularly the third dimension of con-gruence, can aid in the conveyance ofthe narrator's attitude toward the char-acters in his story. The narrator of Hem-ingway's "A Clean-Well-Lighted Place,"for instance, identifies with the positionexpounded by the older waiter. Thisidentification can be subtly developedin an Interpreters Theatre productionof the story by directing the narrator toassume a posture congruent to that ofthe older waiter, which must be unlikethe postural stance of the younger wait-er. Of course the audience would proba-bly not consciously note the postural dif-

34 Scheflen, Body Language and Social Order,pp. 31-33.

35 Scheflen, "The Significance of Posture," p.325.

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KINESICS APPLIED TO INTERPRETERS THEATRE 99

ferences, but the unconscious impres-sion would help to develop accuratelythe subtext of the story.

After examining these basic principlesselected from the extensive collection ofbody movement research, the interpretershould recognize the essential assistancewhich kinesic research offers to Interpre-ters Theatre participants. As he attemptsto utilize body language more effective-ly, the interpreter needs to remembercertain cautions. First, no gestures ormovements have meaning in isolation. Amovement means something only if thecontext and the accompanying move-ments mean the same thing. This needfor additional clues demands that theinterpreter use his total body as he re-acts within the context created by theliterature. Second, the interpreter shouldmake no extra or random movementsto clutter and blur the meaning. Kinesic

stammer and kinesic static interfere withclarity in communication. Third, sinceresearch indicates that kinesic communi-cation generally takes precedence oververbal communication, the interpretermust make certain that his body rein-forces or contradicts the spoken text inaccordance with the subtext of the liter-ture.

Although the communicative value ofthe body has long been observed, kines-ics is a relatively new field of study.While recognizing the tentativeness ofany early research, this article has ap-plied to Interpreters Theatre certainkinesics principles extracted from theseinitial studies. Interpreters Theatre canachieve greater economy, selectivity, clar-ity, and power when its participantsmore consciously and effectively utilizethese principles of body language to re-late the literature's subtext.

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