Il teatro e Derek Walcott. Prospettive postcoloniali e multiculturali

This thesis explores the function of the theatre in Derek Walcott's literary achievements. Focusing on the semiotic theories that characterize the study of drama as a literary text and as a staged text, the initial approach aims at creating a relationship between semiotics and postcolonial theories. In particular Pavis's concept of intercultural semiotics and Peter Brook's innovative visions about the regenerative function of the space of the theatre represent a useful theoretical basis to consider the specificity of postcolonial theatre as an innovative space, where new cultural meanings emerge. Derek Walcott's dramatic production is studied according to this approach, in order to be defined as a new hybrid, syncretic and multicultural space. After considering the development of drama from a postcolonial and Caribbean perspective, this study begins with an insight into Walcott's views on theatre, taking into consideration his linguistic depth, linked to the European tradition, but also his strong concern with the Caribbean public's cultural needs. The double tension characterizing Walcott's cultural identity as well as his art represents an essential element to analyse his dramatic texts. With an ambivalent approach, which takes into consideration language and performance, this thesis offers an insight into Walcott's plays to detect their postcolonial and multicultural elements. The analysis of the different texts are divided into two chapters (third and fourth). The third chapters - mainly focused on postcolonial themes - explores issues such as language, identity and space, whereas the fourth chapter centers on multiculturalism in text and performance. Dealing with interracial interactions, issues like re-writing classical texts and the manipulation of personal and collective memory as a way to re- establish new historical perspectives, the last part of the thesis aims at demonstrating the idea that Walcott has created a new space in the theatre made by the harmonic fusion of different and opposed cultural elements, which are visible in the literary as well as in the staged text. The textual perspective of Walcott's drama fits into Pavis's definition of intercultural semiotics, as the faithful representation of a multicultural creole society: that of the West Indies.