Postdramatic Theatre - Monoskop

1 Postdramatic Theatre Hans-Thies Lehmann's groundbreaking study of the new Theatre forms that have developed since the late 1960s has become a key reference point in inter- national discussions of contemporary Theatre . Postdramatic Theatre refers to Theatre after drama. Despite their diversity, the new forms and aesthetics that have evolved have one essential quality in common: they no longer focus on the dra- matic text. Lehmann offers a historical survey combined with a unique theoretical approach, illustrated by a wealth of practical examples, to guide the reader through this new Theatre landscape. He considers these developments in rela- tion to dramatic theory and Theatre history, and as an inventive response to the emergence of new technologies and a historical shift from a text-based culture to a new media age of image and sound.

2 Engaging with theoreticians of drama and Theatre from Aristotle, Hegel, Szondi and Brecht to Barthes, Lyotard and Schechner, the book analyses the work of recent experimental Theatre practi- tioners such as Robert Wilson, Tadeusz Kantor, Heiner M ller, The Wooster Group, Needcompany and Societas Raffaello Sanzio. This excellent translation is newly adapted for the Anglophone reader, including an introduction by Karen J rs-Munby which provides useful theoret- ical and artistic contexts for the book. Hans-Thies Lehmann is Professor of Theatre Studies at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universit t, Frankfurt am Main, Germany. His numerous publications include Theater und Mythos (1991) on the constitution of the subject in ancient Greek tragedy, Writing the Political (2002) and, with Patrick Primavesi, Heiner M ller Handbuch (2004).

3 Karen J rs-Munby is Senior Lecturer in Drama, Theatre and Performance at the University of Huddersfield. Postdramatic Theatre Hans-Thies Lehmann Translated and with an Introduction by Karen J rs-Munby For Eleni Varopoulou First published 2006 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN. Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Ave, New York, NY 10016. Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group German edition Verlag der Autoren, D-Frankfurt am Main 1999;. English edition Routledge 2006. The publication of this work was supported by a grant from the Goethe-Institut. This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2006. To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge's collection of thousands of eBooks please go to.

4 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Lehmann, Hans-Thies. [Postdramatisches Theater. English]. Postdramatic Theatre / Hans-Thies Lehmann; translated and with an introduction by Karen J rs-Munby. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Theater Germany History 20th century. 2. Experimental theater Germany History 20th century.

5 3. German drama . 20th century History and criticism. I. Title. 2006. '23'09430904 dc22. ISBN10: 0 415 26812 5 (hbk). ISBN10: 0 415 26813 3 (pbk). ISBN13: 9 78 0 415 26812 7 (hbk). ISBN13: 9 78 0 415 26813 4 (pbk). Contents Preface to the English edition ix Introduction 1. What's in the post'? 1. (Post)dramatic theory post' Szondi and Hegel 2. The turn to performance 4. Post-1960s institutional context, memory, history and palimpsest 7. Theatre and world in the age of media: are we post-postdrama? 9. Postmodern and Postdramatic theory 13. Note on the translation and acknowledgement 15. Prologue 16. The stakes 16. Intentions 18. Trade secrets of dramatic Theatre 21. Caesura of the media society 22. Names 23. Paradigm 24. Postmodern and Postdramatic 25. Choice of term 26. Tradition and the Postdramatic talent 27.

6 Drama 29. Drama and Theatre 29. Epicization' Peter Szondi, Roland Barthes 29. The estrangement of Theatre and drama 30. Dramatic discourse' 31. vi Contents Theatre after Brecht 32. Suspended suspense 33. What a drama!' 35. Formalist Theatre ' and imitation 36. Mimesis of action 36. Energetic Theatre ' 37. Drama and dialectic 39. Drama, history, meaning 39. Aristotle: the ideal of surveyability (synopton) 40. Hegel 1: the exclusion of the real 42. Hegel 2: the performance 44. Prehistories 46. Towards a prehistory of Postdramatic Theatre 46. Theatre and text 46. The twentieth century 48. First stage: pure' and impure' drama 48. Second stage: crisis of drama, Theatre goes its own way(s) 49. Autonomization, retheatricalization 50. Third stage: neo-avant-garde' 52. A short look back at the historical avant-gardes 57.

7 Lyrical drama, Symbolism 57. Stasis, ghosts 58. Stage poetry 59. Acts, actions 61. Speed, numbers 61. Landscape Play 62. Pure form' 64. Expressionism 65. Surrealism 66. Panorama of Postdramatic Theatre 68. Beyond dramatic action: ceremony, voices in space, landscape 68. Kantor or the ceremony 71. Gr ber or the reverberation of the voice in space 74. Wilson or the landscape 77. Postdramatic theatrical signs 82. Retreat of synthesis 82. Dream images 83. Contents vii Synaesthesia 84. Performance text 85. 1 Parataxis/non-hierarchy 86. 2 Simultaneity 87. 3 Play with the density of signs 89. 4 Plethora 90. 5 Musicalization 91. 6 Scenography, visual dramaturgy 93. 7 Warmth and coldness 95. 8 Physicality 95. 9 Concrete Theatre ' 98. 10 Irruption of the real 99. 11 Event/situation 104. Examples 107.

8 1 An evening with Jan and his friends 107. 2 Narrations 109. 3 Scenic poem 110. 4 Between the arts 111. 5 Scenic essay 112. 6 Cinematographic Theatre ' 114. 7 Hypernaturalism 115. 8 Cool Fun 118. 9 Theatre of shared' space 122. 10 Theatre solos, monologies 125. 11 Choral Theatre / Theatre of the chorus 129. 12 Theatre of heterogeneity 132. Performance 134. Theatre and performance 134. A eld in between 134. The positing (Setzung) of performance 135. Self-transformation 137. Aggression, responsibility 139. The present of performance 141. Aspects: text space time body media 145. Text 145. Chora-graphy, the body-text 145. Textscape, Theatre of voices 148. viii Contents Space 150. Dramatic and Postdramatic space 150. Time 153. Postdramatic aesthetics of time 153. The unity of time 158. Body 162.

9 Postdramatic images of the body 162. Pain, catharsis 165. Media 167. Media in Postdramatic Theatre 167. Electronic images as a relief 170. Representability', fate 171. Epilogue 175. The political 175. Intercultural Theatre 176. Representation, measure and transgression 177. Afformance art? 179. Drama and society 180. Theatre and the Society of the Spectacle' 183. Politics of perception, aesthetics of responsibility 184. Aesthetics of risk 186. Notes 188. Bibliography 200. Index 208. Preface to the English edition In presenting this study to the Anglophone readership (with a certain delay due to adverse circumstances), I would like to express my gratitude to Karen J rs- Munby who carried out the translation not only in an impressively short time but with admirable precision and competence.

10 In addition, she contributed many a valuable reference. Her introduction will facilitate the access for the interested Anglophone readership and offer the possibility to relate the analyses and theses of the book to other Theatre works especially in Britain and the USA. Wherever possible I have placed importance on discussing only perfor- mances I have been able to see myself. Consequently, the occasional imbalance has been unavoidable due to my personal reception or the accidental nature of circumstances. Otherwise, there would have been more of an emphasis, for example, on British fringe Theatre and performance. The American avant-garde has left deep marks on international Theatre and thus it comes as no surprise that a number of American artists and companies are acknowledged and dis- cussed in the present study (Wilson, Foreman, Schechner, Jesurun, The Living Theatre and The Wooster Group to name but a few).