Postdramatic theatre

The notion of postdramatic theatre was established by German theatre researcher Hans-Thies Lehmann in his book Postdramatic Theatre,[1] summarising a number of tendencies and stylistic traits occurring in avant-garde theatre since the end of the 1960s. The theatre which Lehmann calls postdramatic is not primarily focused on the drama in itself, but evolves a performative aesthetic in which the text of the performance is put in a special relation to the material situation of the performance and the stage. The postdramatic theatre attempts to mimic the unassembled and unorganized literature that a playwright sketches in the novel.

Postdramatic theatre, thus, strives to produce an effect amongst the spectators rather than to remain true to the text. Lehmann locates what he calls 'the new theatre' as part of 'a simultaneous and multi-perspectival form of perceiving'; this, he argues is brought about, in large part, by a reaction to the dominance of the written text.[2]

The new theatre, Lehmann asserts, is characterised by, amongst other things, the 'use and combination of heterogeneous styles',[3] it situates itself as after or beyond dialogue[4] and incorporates the notion of the 'performer as theme and protagonist'.[5]

In its most radical varieties, postdramatic theatre knows no "plot" at all, but concentrates fully on the interaction between performer and audience.

Another way of using the notion is to describe plays with little or no drama, for instance the plays of Jon Fosse and With the People from the Bridge by Dimitris Lyacos.[6]

Some names associated with postdramatic theatre are Tadeusz Kantor (Kraków),[7] Heiner Müller (Berlin),[8] René Pollesch (Berlin),[9] Robert Wilson (New York City),[10] The Wooster Group (New York City),[11] The Builders Association[12] (New York City), Giannina Braschi (San Juan, Puerto Rico),[13] Elizabeth LeCompte (New York City), Richard Foreman (New York City), Robert Lepage (Quebec, Canada), Pina Bausch (Wuppertal, Germany),[14] Big Art Group (New York City), Jan Fabre, Jan Lauwers and Needcompany, Frank Castorf (Berlin), Josef Szeiler/TheaterAngelusNovus (Vienna), Elfriede Jelinek (Vienna),[15] Heiner Goebbels (Frankfurt),[16] Verdensteatret (Oslo), Alvis Hermanis (Riga), Forced Entertainment (Sheffield), Teater Moment (Stockholm), the Apocryphal Theatre (London),[17] The Sydney Front (Australia) and Socìetas Raffaello Sanzio (Italy), Pan Pan (Ireland),[18] POST (Australia), Action Hero (United Kingdom), Nature Theatre of Oklahoma (United States),[19] Scum! Theatre (United Kingdom) and more.

A new generation of internationally working postdramatic directors is changing the big picture: Among them are Thomas Luz, Amir Reza Koohestani, Susanne Kennedy,[20] Dusan David Parizek, Yael Ronen, Simon Stone, Kai Tuchmann, Anna Bergmann, Bastian Kraft, Ulrich Rasche, Nicolas Stemann, and Kay Voges.[21]

  1. ^ Lehmann (2006)
  2. ^ Lehmann (2006), p. 16
  3. ^ Lehmann (2006), p. 26
  4. ^ Lehmann (2006), p. 31
  5. ^ Lehmann (2006), p. 25
  6. ^ Mason, Fran (12 December 2016). Historical Dictionary of Postmodernist Literature and Theater. Rowman & Littlefield. ISBN 9781442276208.
  7. ^ "'Inspirational' unseen film of Tadeusz Kantor's last show before he died to be shown for first time". www.thefirstnews.com. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  8. ^ ""What to Read Now: Mixed-Genre Literature," Giannina Braschi on Heiner Müller, Tadeus Kantor, and Witkiewicz". World Literature Today. 2012-08-06. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  9. ^ Barnett, David (2006-08-21). "Political theatre in a shrinking world: René Pollesch's postdramatic practices on paper and on stage". Contemporary Theatre Review. 16 (1): 31–40. doi:10.1080/10486800500450957. S2CID 190863375.
  10. ^ Battaglia, Andy (2020-04-09). "Robert Wilson Debuts Viewing Room for Mesmerizing Video Portraits, Featuring Lady Gaga's Severed Head and Other Oddities". ARTnews.com. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  11. ^ Parker-Starbuck, Jennifer (2009-01-01). "The play-within-the-film-within-the-play's the thing: re-transmitting analogue bodies in the Wooster Group's Hamlet". International Journal of Performance Arts and Digital Media. 5 (1): 23–34. doi:10.1386/padm.5.1.23_1. ISSN 1479-4713. S2CID 192213672.
  12. ^ Jackson, Shannon (2013). "Postdramatic Labour in The Builders Association's Alladeen". Postdramatic Theatre and the Political: 165–188. doi:10.5040/9781408183519.ch-008. ISBN 9781408183519.
  13. ^ Fierberg, Ruthie (11 September 2017). "13 Theatre Works That Responded to 9/11". Playbill. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  14. ^ cs2-admin (2016-02-17). "In memoriam: Pina Bausch, Beautiful and Tragic, Solemn and Classic". Critical Stages/Scènes critiques. Retrieved 2020-04-27.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ Jürs-Munby, Karen (2009-03-01). "The Resistant Text in Postdramatic Theatre: Performing Elfriede Jelinek's Sprachflächen". Performance Research. 14 (1): 46–56. doi:10.1080/13528160903113197. ISSN 1352-8165. S2CID 193228753.
  16. ^ Kalb, Jonathan (2018). "Samuel Beckett, Heiner Müller and Postdramatic Theater". Samuel Beckett Today / Aujourd'hui. 11: 74–83. doi:10.1163/18757405-01101012. ISSN 0927-3131. JSTOR 25781357. S2CID 188421578.
  17. ^ Haydon, Andrew (2008-11-11). "Andrew Haydon: Postdramatic theatre is no longer a closed book". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-04-27.
  18. ^ "Pan Pan". Pan Pan. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  19. ^ "OKTHEATER.ORG". www.oktheater.org. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  20. ^ "Susanne Kennedy - People - Volksbühne Berlin". volksbuehne.berlin. Retrieved 2021-01-30.
  21. ^ Schmidt, Thomas (25 May 2017). "The Post-Dramatic Turn in German Theatre". HowlRound. Retrieved 2 January 2018.