Postmodernist Theatre Notes

Theatre in the WORLD 

Postmodernism and Modern Theatre

• Words to describe our society: 
• Norm 
• Technology
• Issues in our society: 
• Individualism 
• Corruption
• Equal Rights
• Sexuality
• Drugs

• Po Mo is a reflection of these issues that are posed in our society. 
• Art is created
• A way of thinking, and a way of non-thinking
• Analysis cannot be done using traditional norms.
• Oblivious to logic, parallels to experiences in life. 

2 ideas to Po Mo: 

• Homage to itself. Reflection of itself. Art that is about Art. 
• Revision/re-imagine the works of the past, the director’s own image. 

• Surrealism
• Perception is reality? 
• Po Mo is not about something - It’s about itself. - It deconstructs itself so we can think about the idea of art and the idea of ourselves. How do we view art? How do we view ourselves in relation to the art? 
• Po Mo comes from anti-realism theatre. 
• Surrealists or Post Modernists wanted to find higher forms of reality 
• Method Acting: 
• Stanislavski - He was sick of it. He wanted to go within and utilize our findings to create emotional memory - realistic
• Theatre in the time of ^ was so formulaic, so prescribed. 
• Much more inside out. - Use architecture. 

• Bertolt Brecht - A genius! The inception of PoMo. Change the relationship between the audience and the actor. 
• Created a distance between the artist and the audience.
• The audience is aware that they are in the play - they are not losing themselves in the play. 
• This is moving towards Post Modernist theatre. 

• Aristotle: An overarching theme.
• Po Mo: Symbols, various themes spread out, sensory discoveries and experiences. Celebrating arbitrary juxtaposition, irrelevances. 
• Hip Hop, Breakdancing, Dj’ing, Rapping, Commercials, Speed Surfing online - examples of Po Mo theatre in our generation.
• Go against the norm. Leaves room for experimentation 
• Dadaism
• You get a group of words and throw it up in the air and retrieve the words 
• Whatever will happen will happen. 
• Cabaret singing, shouting, dancing, painting, pulling words out of a hat... 
• Denied logic and reason
• This is what led to theatre of the absurd. 
• Also grew out of Nihilism and post war feelings of loss and disillusionment.
• Then lead to theatre of alienation. 
• Picture: This is where it all gets a bit... surreal.

Characteristics of PoMo theatre: 

• Non-linear theatre.
• No beg, middle and end. 
• Stories are jumping around. Temporary flashbacks; starts in the future, to past, to present. --- It’s all over the place. 
• You have to figure this out. 
• Open Theatre
• A much wider range interest in cultures and in individuals that exist. 
• Joseph Chaiken 
• His theatre reflected humanity, society (was post vietnam) 
• Disconnect between actor and character - wanted to create roles rather than characters. “That guy is an actor playing a character.” 
• Ideas of actors playing scenery and props!
• A Diverse Theatre
• Eve Ensler (The Vagina Monologues) 
• Women have been a force in theatre since the seventeenth century, but before were not involved in theatre.
• Discusses issues that might have not really been exposed in society in the past. 
• Racial diversification
• Gender roles
• Pregnancy/Abortion
• Domestic Violence
• Issues that people avoided finally exposed to society. 
• 1980’s - 8 women have received pulitzer prizes for playwriting 
• Sarah Ruhl 
• Mary Zimmerman 
• Suzanne Lori Parks
• Non-Traditional Casting 
• Black people = black actor - perhaps an Asian actor? 
• Patrick Stewart - White man played the black Moor Othello. Changed every character black and made Othello white. 
• Flips character casting on its head

- Sarah Jones - Another example of non-traditional casting. 

• One woman show - played fifteen different characters from different backgrounds.
• Exchanges characters and in a split second can alter her characters. 
• Spectacular Theatre
• Not the mere spectacle, but the spectacles that just blow your mind away. 
• Cirque du Soleil/Performance Art
• Computer graphics
• Contemporary circus 
• etc. 
• A Theatre of Community 
• Clifford Odets started group theatre. - (Waiting for Lefty)
• 1930’s - getting people together dedicated to social causes - change the world with theatre.
• Theatre of the oppressed
• A large part is ‘dangerous theatre’ 
• Cornerstone theatre
• Help the world. Service to the world. 
• Movement Art and Dance theatre
• Sound and movement - sensory impact
• Stomp 
• Blue Man Group
• PINA BAUSCH
• Brought issues, despair into dance
• Matthew Bourne
• A Global Theatre
• Globalization of the word economy 
• Worldwide proliferation of culture 
• World wide web
• Migrations
• Media
• It’s spreading!! 
• Bringing cultures together
• Multiple tongues
• Wider focuses
• A Macaronic Drama 
• Multi-language
• Heighten the translation of meaning 
• Gestures
• Bodies
• Implication 
• Depicts conflicts between culture
• Assimilation of culture
• A Theatre of Difference
• Deals with the topic of homosexuality 
• Angels in America
• AIDS
• By Tony Kushner 
• Verbatim Theatre
• You take manuscripts of real live scripts and interviews. 
• Eve Ensler
• Created plays that came from rape victims in ____. 
• Anna Deveare Smith
• Creates plays by interviewing people
• She embodies these character
• She’s not creating a character, she is completely becoming the people she interviews - gestures, raise of the eyebrows, speech
• in one play she can play 10 people
• Sarah Jones 
• Solo performances
• One man show
• One woman show
• Dangerous Theatre
• Deals with issues that near the edgy areas
• They ‘cross’ the line. 
• Nudity (Dangerous. Self explanatory) 
• Sensory assualt
• Pushing the boundaries wherever you are. (Can sometimes depend on the setting and context you are in) 
• Dealing with issues of political torture. 
• Technology in Theatre
• www.4dart.com/shows.html

Natasha Tsakos”

“In the art of today, we have become scientists and in the science of today, we have become artists.”