Aristotle's Theory on Acting: Theoretical Origins of Non-Musical Theatre

Abstract

Why did the Europeans invent a non-musical theatre? We can find the origins of this idea in Aristotle and Peripatetics theory on acting. Recent studies have shown that the modern Occidental theories of acting have been largely inspired by the actio theory of Roman rhetoric. The conceptual association between the actor and the orator is Aristotle's invention.

The Peripatetic thinkers use the term “acting (hupokrisis)” especially to criticize Demosthenes. For the Peripatetics, his discourse was as much vulgar as the acting of theatre actors, because he spoke to please the masses. This critique reflects the political context, which opposes the pro-Macedonian Peripatetic school and the anti-Macedonian democratic orator.

In Peripatetic rhetoric, the indicator of vulgarity is the tendency to sing and to dance, which aims to enhance the sensational reaction of the audience. This criterion is applied not only to the orators, but also to the stage actors — in Poetics, Aristotle invents, in a way, a theoretical non-musical theatre, excluding the singing actors.

This is tentative to establish a new model of “true-saying”, which could be substituted for the archaic and Platonic model, based on the magical power of singing. This Aristotelian new model of true-saying founded the modern European theatre, as well as science and capitalism.