Were those Boots Made Just for Walking? Shoes as Performing Objects in Everyday Life and in the Theatre

Abstract

This article takes the shoe as a case study for engaging with theories of the object. Semiotic approaches to material objects are discussed, with reference to Barthes, Krampen, and Kress and Van Leeuwen. Jiri Veltruský's important article `Man and Object in the Theatre' and Merleau-Ponty's phenomenological account of the relationship between body and object are presented as useful tools for describing spectators' and performers' experience of materiality in performance. Examples of the use of shoes in actor training and in recent productions are discussed and several distinct approaches are identified: shoes as costume, as indices of their wearers' presence, as `texts' or scripts for movement, as sculptural objects and as independent theatrical subjects.

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