Textual multimodality of printed theatre playbill

The article focuses on multimodality of the printed theatre playbill. The main attention is paid to the text of the playbill as a combined space of image and word. Multimodality in this case is considered an optimal form of attracting the attention of a potential playgoer. It seems that the text of the playbill functions as a guide for the potential playgoer and helps to represent the advertised performance laconically. Using the suggested guidelines, the potential playgoer gets information about the title of the performance, its location, participating actors and the type of the theatrical event. Potential audience needs to understand in advance the gist of the reported information and decide whether to attend the play or not. Attraction is considered one of the most important functions of a playbill; its purpose is the attraction of the theatre audience's attention as well as the reciprocal motivation: whether to choose the proposed performance or not. It is proved that the audience is not homogeneous, therefore, the perception of the proposed information depends on the demographic factor, since it determines the peculiarities of the audience perception and response. The structure of the printed theatre playbill is considered within the framework of its text field. The spatial layout of a small-scale text is revealed in interaction with iconic elements. The text of the playbill is analyzed as a guiding system for a potential playgoer, which allows representing the advertised performance economically and aesthetically.