On the Perception of Postdramatic Theatre Theory in Contemporary British Theatre: The Possibility of Texts

Abstract

This study examines how the notion ‘postdramatic theatre’, which gained importance after the publication of Hans-Thies Lehmann's book Postdramatic Theatre, is perceived within the context of twenty-first century theatre in the UK. Although the release of the English publication of the book was delayed compared to other languages, the term ‘postdramatic’ has been frequently applied to contemporary theatre practices in the UK. Lehmann's concept has faced criticism from British scholars. Many of them disapproved of the concept postdramatic theatre because Lehmann's position on theatre writing and playwrights was ambiguous, and he did not fully theorize the position of texts in postdramatic theatre.

This study mainly considers criticism about postdramatic theatre, specifically the British contemporary theatre from the late 1990s to the early 2000s, when the issue of theatre texts was reconsidered among theatre academics and practitioners. Taking into account British playwrights such as Martin Crimp and Sara Kane, who are considered as representative postdramatic writers, we need a recalibration of writers as postdramatic.

Moreover, this study points out that one of the biggest changes in twenty-first century British theatre has occurred in the relationship between the stage and audience. Again, Postdramatic Theatre does not clearly address this issue. Examining Tim Crouch's radical An Oak Tree as an example of the change in contemporary British theatre, this study concludes that we need to extend the concept of postdramatic to apprehend the spectrum of twenty-first century theatre in the UK.