Towards a Theatre of Encounter and Experience: Reflexive Dramaturgies and Classic Texts

Abstract

Discussing stage adaptations of Dostoevsky's The Idiot by Frank Castorf and Katie Mitchell as well as Chris Goode's unconventional production of Chekhov's Three Sisters, this essay explores new strategies in contemporary European theatre which are described here as 'reflexive dramaturgy'. This concept extends Hans-Thies Lehmann's influential modelling of postdramatic theatre and introduces Slavoj Ziz7caron;ek's notion of the 'parallax view' in order to shift the terms of reference away from power structures (and struggles) between the (written) text and other theatre signs. Instead, a focus on inscribed spectatorial perspectives is proposed in order to chart a more productive analytic framework specifically for contemporary productions of canonical texts. It is argued that reflexive dramaturgies reinforce rather than close the inherent gap between 'drama' (plot, narrative, and representation) and 'performance' (medium, experience, and presence). Being offered oscillating frames, perspectives and entry points, the audience is engaged in a 'parallax' encounter with classic texts and performative embodiments of these texts' own materiality (instead of mere representations of their plots). Since a coherent closure of the parallax is prevented, spectators are reflexively confronted with their own complicity in the very act of representation that underpins today's totalizing media society. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.