So far there has been little analysis of the mechanisms operative in the reception of theatre texts from the point of view of actual editing, emendation or revision work done on the texts themselves. The present study goes some way to rectifying the situation by substituting a more strongly reception-oriented perspective for the 'production-oriented' form of text linguistics usually applied so far. In so doing it adheres closely to the 'text as such', seeking ways of describing reception processes at the observable level of language itself. The results of the study show that there are certain structures or features which recipients regularly tend to home in on when they attempt to 'enhance the efficiency' of texts.