Stage Directions as a Constituent Component of the Paratext of B. Shaw’s Play “Pygmalion”.

Paratext of a play denotes everything what surrounds the primary/main text (personages’ direct speech), preceding, following or inserting into it. Paratext can be created either by the author or the publisher. The publisher’s paratext of a play (a cover, opening information, endpapers, colophon and footnotes) form a frame for the main text, and can change its interpretation by the public. The author’s paratext of a play is stage directions, a list of dramatic personae and act numbers, a title, a dedication and an epigraph. The name of the author is also treated nowadays as a paratexual category.