The ‘Postdramatic’ in Opera: Taking Schlingensief's Production of Parsifal as an Example

Abstract

According to Hans-Thies Lehmann, the term “postdramatic theatre” describes a theatre aesthetic in which the text, the action, as well as the subjects that bear the action, do not form the primary moment, but where all theatrical elements are instead understood as equal. Opera research, however, questions the concept of the postdramatic, owing to the fact that a specific tension characterises opera as an artistic genre: an opera - especially one from the repertoire - is usually closely tied to the respective text (the libretto and particularly the score). In Wagner's case specifically, verse and the musical form are unalterable. Nonetheless concurrently, sensual phenomena have always been present in opera, and - as they uniquely arise in the course of the performance (as distinct space and proper time, as well as sound, voice, body, etc.) - have postdramatic traits. Precisely such phenomena can have a productive effect by changing the recipient's perception in the performance, and thus reveal a critical dimension of the subject.

The postdramatic in Schlingensief's Parsifal production (Bayreuth, 2004-2007) has been characterised as “transgression” to the point of excess and breach of taboo. Such excess - in the sense of a hypertrophy of images, an adding or splitting of roles, and an increase in the number of extras, of whom many are black-skinned - seems to distance itself from the plot of Wagner's Parsifal, and appears to be resistant. It is exactly this constellation that can nevertheless unsettle the perception of the audience. A further irritating moment of the postdramatic is the “deviant body” (Lehmann), which Schlingensief brings to the stage through the appearance of disabled, old and obese people. In an astonishing way, this aesthetic of “transgression” sheds new light on the model: the central theme of salvation expands into the universal.