Postmodern theater
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Postmodern theatre is a recent phenomenon in world theatre, coming as it does out of the postmodern philosophy that originated in Europe in the 1960s. Typically, a postmodern theatrical work would contain some or all of the following characteristics:
- A diverse pastiche of different textualities and media forms are used, including the simultaneous use of multiple art or media forms, and there is the 'theft' of a heterogeneous group of artistic forms
- Narrative need not be complete but can be broken, paradoxical and imagistic. There is a movement away from linearity to multiplicity (to inter-related 'webs' of storying), where acts and scenes give way to a series of peripatetic dramatic moments.
- Existing ways of seeing the world are subverted and questioned, including conventional methods of portraying character and human experience
- Each new performance of a theatrical pieces is a new Gestalt, a unique spectacle, with no intent on methodically repeating a play.
- The audience is integral to the shared meaning making of the performance process and are included in the dialogue of the play
- The rehearsal process in a theatrical production is driven more by shared meaning-making and improvisation, rather than the scripted text
Postmodern theatre works tend to be challenging for an audience who are used to the time-honoured conventions of theatre and have expectations. The breaking of these expectations and the finding of new boundaries and sensibilities is the very point of this theatrical movement.
