Patrice Pavis offers an excellent analysis of ostension in his dictionary of theatre. Ostension (Latin ostendere, to show), he writes, is an essential feature of performance. The expression ‘theatrical ostension’ calls to mind quite naturally the notions of set, stage properties, body motions, and so on. In addition to purely visual elements, ostension also refers to verbal signals. But ostension is rarely total; one often sees only fragments of the dramatic world. Ostension is a relative notion modulated by elements that are not shown or not clearly shown. Synecdoche (the part for the whole) is one possible mode of ostension: the director suggests a complex reality by a characteristic detail: a crown for the King … Performance often resorts to metaphor: one element conjures up another. Pavis concludes that a stylistics or rhetoric of ostension would be a most precious tool for performance analysis.
