Experimental theatre

Robin Bittman in Corner Theatre ETC's 1981 production of Tom Eyen's The White Whore and the Bit Player, directed by Brad Mays.

Experimental theatre (also known as avant-garde theatre), inspired largely by Wagner's concept of Gesamtkunstwerk,[1] began in Western theatre in the late 19th century with Alfred Jarry and his Ubu plays as a rejection of both the age in particular and, in general, the dominant ways of writing and producing plays. The term has shifted over time as the mainstream theatre world has adopted many forms that were once considered radical.

Like other forms of the avant-garde, it was created as a response to a perceived general cultural crisis. Despite different political and formal approaches, all avant-garde theatre opposes bourgeois theatre. It tries to introduce a different use of language and the body to change the mode of perception[2] and to create a new, more active relation with the audience.

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Erika Fischer-Lichte "Einleitung Wahrnehmung-Körper-Sprache" in: Erika Fischer-Lichte et al.: TheaterAvantgarde, Tübingen 1995, pp. 1–15

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