The effective role of Visual Comedy Costumes on Contemporary Iraqi Theatre Performances :A study of the play (Yes, Godot)

Abstract

                                                                    Research Summary

Contemporary theater has witnessed a remarkable shift toward relying on visual images as an effective language that has surpassed conversational language. This theme has spread to comedy as a theatrical genre with an evolutionary context in the field of theatrical performances. Thus, visual comedy has become a solid comedy with abundant connotations that allow for reception, communication, and interpretation.

From the visuals of the contemporary theatrical show (costume) which was used in various ways to enhance the visual images that overlap successively with other visual elements of the show to produce new connotations according to the cultural and social reference.. for the recipient, and the comedy show is more demanding because since the emergence of comedy it needs a professional actor who is skilled in his tools, especially the body.

The costume is the second body of the actor, so it had an important impact on the comedic theatrical performance, as the costume supports the actor psychologically and kinetically, enhancing his performance energy. Therefore, it was necessary to delve into the field of comedic costume and the extent of its impact on the actor’s performance, so this was the problem of the research. To achieve the goal of the research in revealing the relationship of the costume to building comedic characters to serve those working in the field of visual theatre.

Contemporary comedians, specifically fashion designers, the researcher defined a set of terms, namely (impact, visual comedy) and gave an operational definition for each of them. The theoretical framework consisted of two topics as follows: the first topic (visual comedy and theater), the second topic (fashion as a generator of visual comedy). Then the researcher wrote indicators for the theoretical framework.

As for the third chapter (research procedures), the research sample was chosen, which is the play (Yes, Godot) and it was analyzed and a set of results were drawn from it. From the indicators of the theoretical framework and the research results, the researcher reached the conclusions that are ((the contemporary visual comedy costume has a satirical language, as it contains a semantic stock generated from repeating the model (stereotyping),

The contradiction between form and content, which was played by the actor’s mechanical movement, his entry into the dramatic action, and giving the actor a state of (impersonation) that leaves its impact on his performance of the characters as well as on the recipient’s reading.