Post-Dramatic Performance

Hans-Thies Lehmann  produced a book in 1999 that "covers a wide range of contemporary theatrical forms" alongside visual art and devised work. As a result. this led to the publication of post-dramatic performance.


Post-dramatic relates to performances that do not rely on dramatic texts; but include the deconstruction of created characters, settings, backgrounds and how the system of thought represents itself. This even has the possibility of disappearing altogether. A performance of post-dramatic nature eliminates the play, alongside characters and understandable settings.

http://www.ista.co.uk/downloads/POSTDRAMATICTHEATREbyJoScott_1.pdf

"a performance state where unified character, plot and setting is ruptured and 'even relinquished altogether'" (Lehmann 2006: 30-31).

This quote suggests that post-dramatic performance deconstructs characters, plots, settings and emotion. As a result, we see the emotion of specific characters; alongside fragments of settings and props, but the full structure and understanding of a play disappears entirely. An example was the post-dramatic performance produced by DMU first years, which extracted the emotions, settings and characters from the first play; but deconstructed them to make them less obvious. The process is an act of producing post-dramatic performance.