Postdramatic theatre

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The notion of "post-dramatic theatre" was established by German theatre researcher Hans-Thies Lehmann in his 1999 book with the same title, summarizing a number of tendencies and stylistic traits occurring in avant-garde theatre since the end of the 1960s. The theatre which Lehmann calls postdramatc is not primarily focused on the drama in itself, but evolves a performative aesthetic in which the text of the drama is put in a special relation to the material situation of the performance and the stage. Thus postdramatic theatre is more striving to produce an effect amongst the spectators than to remain true to the text.

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

Some names associated with postdramatic theatre are The Wooster Group (New York City.), Frank Castorf (Berlin), Heiner Goebbels (Frankfurt), Forced Entertainment (Sheffield) and Teater Moment (Stockholm).

[edit] Literature

• Hans-Thies Lehmann: Postdramatisches Theater. Verlag der Autoren, Frankfurt am Main 1999, ISBN 3886612090.