Postdramatic Theatre

Description: Newly adapted for the Anglophone reader, this is an excellent translation of Hans-Thies Lehmann's groundbreaking study of the new theatre forms that have developed since the late 1960s, which has become a key reference point in international discussions of contemporary theatre. In looking at the developments since the late 1960s, Lehmann considers them in relation to dramatic theory and theatre history, as an inventive response to the emergence of new technologies, and as an historical shift from a text-based culture to a new media age of image and sound. Engaging with theoreticians of 'drama' from Aristotle and Brecht, to Derrida and Schechner, the book analyzes the work of recent experimental theatre practitioners such as Robert Wilson, Tadeusz Kantor, Heiner Muller, the Wooster Group, Forced Entertainment, 'Theatre de Complicite' and 'Societas Raffaello Sanzio'. Illustrated by a wealth of practical examples, and with an introduction by Karen Jurs-Munby providing useful theoretical and artistic contexts for the book, 'Postdramatic Theatre 'is an historical survey expertly combined with a unique theoretical approach wthich guides the reader through this new theatre landscape. Table of Contents: Preface to the English Edition Introduction 1. Prologue 2. Drama Drama and Theatre Drama and Dialectic 3. Pre-histories Towards a Prehistory of Postdramatic Theatre A Short Look Back at the Historical Avant-gardes 4. Panorama of Postdramatic Theatre Beyond Dramatic Action: Ceremony, Voices in Space, Landscape Postdramatic Theatrical Signs Examples 5. Performance Theatre and Performance The Present of Performance 6. Aspects: Text - Space - Time - Body - Media Text Space Time Body Media 7. Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index