The Theatrical (SC) Dimension of Teaching as a Profession

The article deals with issue of theatrical behaviour in teaching. The topic is explored against the background of the author‘s research on non-specific theatricality in or-dinary human behaviour (in the framework of scenology research at the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague). The article focuses on issues like the teacher as actor (polemic with lay discourse), on describing essential theatrical types of activity (ostentational and ostentative (reality emphasising) behaviour on the one hand, and fictional behaviour and the creation of illusions and tricks on the other hand). The need for a staged performative element (this means behaviour addressed to an audience andforthispurposemodified) is analysed as part of teacher behaviour. The difference between a teacher‘s and and an actor‘s staged performative behaviour is defined. The author argues that despite common features and similarities between teaching and acting as professions (e.g. concentration on acting, a special type of expressivity, a level of communication technique), the teacher is not an actor (except in situations when he/she plays a role from a theatrical point of view). The conclusion of the article also opens up the way for the author‘s further research in the area.