ON THE PHENOMENOLOGY OF AN ACTORS FACE ((K fenomenologii tvare herca)

The author, reputable Czech theatre theoretician, produced a comprehensive and for theatre important monograph on the role of an actor's work with his/her own face in the rendition of a dramatic figure and, hence, the function of the actor's face in the process (not only strictly limited to facial expressions) of change of an actor to a dramatic figure. The author examines this process from the different angles and traces back the less-known areas of perception and the use of the face in the theatre cultures of the Far East. The paper focuses on the elucidation of the presence of physiognomy in ancient Chinese culture and in ancient theatre. It is concluded by the author's statement that Roman pragmatism, certain indifference to the metaphysical problems of early philosophy, was outweighed by an interest in concrete specificities, in the present or about to begin time of the foreseeable future. The Roman art of divination, which interpreted omens, both seen and heard, and built on the art of 'reading from the face', served the above purpose. Here the Romans availed the classical knowledge of Greek anthropometry and physiognomy and given principles of corporeal beauty.