Postdramatic Theater
Lecture delivered by: Hans Thies Lehmann
Hans-Thies Lehmann, the author the study Postdramatic Theatre, originates from a theoretical tradition that merges the French post-structuralism and the materialist theories of literature and performing arts. In the eighties, his book Contributions to the Materialist Theory of Literature was published, along with numerous contributions about the authors like Georges Bataille, Georg Büchner and Heiner Müller. In the nineties, Lehmann was giving lectures and publishing articles also on Bertolt Brecht, by whom he was fascinated chiefly because of his concepts of epic theatre, denationalizing effect, plot, gestus, etc. Lehmann’s interest in the work of Heiner Müller, a great admirer of Brecht and at the same time his inexorable critic, continues without interruptions to this day, when his newest book is about to be published about this, as they used to say, “German - German” author.
The book Postdramatisches Theater was published in 1999 and has raised a lot of interest. The author states in the introduction that in doing this research, he was not guided by a need for a detailed “inventorisation” of numerous forms and actors, but was rather following the “aesthetical logics” of the new theatre.
