Ne atpažinimo džiaugsmui, o suvokimo malonumui : postmodernumo ženklai dramoje

Abstract

The paper analyses some problematic aspects of postmodern drama and discusses the postmodern characteristics of contemporary drama. The 20th century drama marks a radical transformation from a self-contained logocentric drama (drama is in the center of theatre) towards an open deconst ructional text. Some critics are eager to announce these drama transformations of the 20th century as the death or the end of drama as we have know it, but such "apocalyptic pronouncements are con tinually bellied by actuality" (Gilman, 1999). We can accept new ways in drama as postmodernism. The development of contemporary Lithuanian dra ma (dramatic texts of S.Parulskis, H.Kunčius, M.Ivaškevičius) is also connected with the pro cess of postmodernization. The literary drama melts away in the multi-layered interplay of transfor mations. The postmodern drama cannot define itself with out recourse to modern norms, but the borderli nes between classical, modern and postmodern drama are often confused. A definition of postmo dern drama is difficult to give because of ambi guity, indeterminancy and contradiction of the term "postmodern". According to S.Watt, the term "postmodern drama" is an impossible or "empty maker" category. Therefore, new theoretic defini tions: visual dramaturgy, performance text, postdra ma are offered. The historical/philosophical and aesthetic/stylistic concepts of postmodern drama can be singled out. From the historical and philosophical point of view, postmodern drama is a radically new stage of dra ma field consolidating the conception of postdra ma. The aesthetic/stylistic concept relates new sty listic features of drama which have become dis tinct approximately since the seventh decade of this century. The postmodern drama is most clearly characterized by a complex whole of philosophical and stylistic features. The change of drama composition towards frag mentary, open, undefined arrangement is treated as the destruction of drama composition. Deconst ructed parts of the plot are not united into a clear chain of mutually related events, they function independently as a compositional element creating intertextual drama space. The elements of compo sition destruction are typical of the drama "P.S. Byla O.K." written by the Lithuanian playwright S.Parulskis. Following the peculiarities of modern drama composition, the traditional