Hans-Thies Lehmann

The contemporary Central European and Slovene theatre of the last decades of the 20th century can therefore, probably very justifiably, be interpreted through several theoretical concepts. That is, Jacques Derrida’s and Philip Auslander’s concepts of detheologization of the stage, Bonnie Marranca and her concept of the theatre of images and Richard Schechner’s anthropological theory of performance, and simultaneously to Lehmann’s concept of postdramatic, often overlapping with Jean-François Lyotard’s concept of the theatre of energy. The interview abords these questions focusing on Mladinsko and independent theatre productions of the last four decades.

Artigo escrito por Jonathan Kalib para o Samuel Beckett Today / Aujourd’hui, vol. 11 (SAMUEL BECKETT: ENDLESSNESS IN THE YEAR 2000), 2001, pp.74-83. Traduzido por Fernando Graça em Junho de 2016 para o seu site www.fernandograca.com.br.

RESUMO: Heiner Müller, o mais importante herdeiro espiritual de Brecht, foi figura dominante do teatro alemão durante as décadas anteriores à sua morte em 1995. Pouco se sabe, porém, que este comunista heterodoxo e provocador político da Alemanha Oriental foi influenciado por Beckett, e que tal influência o levou, no final de sua vida, a um surpreendente e frutífero impasse mental cuja expressão se vê em sua obra mais interessante e formalmente inovadora. A conexão Müller-Beckett tem sido subestimada por estudiosos de Brecht e Müller, mas é de crucial importância para compreender não apenas o teatro de Müller, como também o fenômeno de larga disseminação do teatro "pós-dramático" que Beckett inspirou proeminentemente - categoria internacional inovadora caracterizada por paisagens teatrais quase "conscientes", personagens dramáticos descentrados e metáforas incertas do palco.

In examining the notion of entelechy – defined by Aristotle as the ‘final cause’ in drama – Zornitsa Dimitrova shows that depictions of ‘unsavoury’ content are only justified insofar as they are part of larger networks of aesthetic codification. The unsavoury cannot be an end in itself; neither can it function as an aesthetic category in its own right. Rather, it is a means related to pathos, or suffering, in Greek tragedy and bībhatsa, the ‘odious sentiment’ of the Sanskrit drama. Within such networks of codification, the purpose of the unsavoury is to carry forward the drama to an emotionally uplifting end: katharsis in the Poetics and ananda in Nāṭyaśāstra. This purposiveness – already visible in the entelechial nature of the dramatic plot – relates to a concept of mimesis implicitly understood as a term actional and interactionist in character. But only with the emergence of postdramatic theatre and the dissolution of plot does the unsavoury begin to function as an aesthetic category in its own right.

In his essays on Brecht’s epic theater, Walter Benjamin stresses the relationship between the Verfremdungseffekt (estrangement effect) and the funny effects epic theater produces. Like alienation, laughing has a mind-opening effect. Indeed, Brecht himself considered the estrangement effect to be a method that is rooted in the “old artistic devices” of comedy. In this essay, I will explore further parallels between epic theater and comedy: on the one hand forms of Cool Fun (sensu Hans-Thies Lehmann), on the other hand strategies of self-distancing that enable the actor to make social gestures “quotable.” Tracing back to the debate between speech act theory and deconstruction about the “performative forces” that are at stake when theatrical practices are re-cited on stage, I introduce Derrida’s notion of “grafting” in order to demonstrate how contemporary comedy and satire are producing Cool Fun with performative gestures of quotation.

Distinta de uma tradição que remonta ao Naturalismo, ao Neo-Realismo e é atualizado nos debates sobre a arte produzida nas periferias dos grandes centros urbanos, o comum não pode ser pensado apenas como pobre. É necessário dar uma outra inflexão no conceito para pensarmos o comum como intimamente articulado a  estéticas minimalistas da contenção e da rarefação bem como a propostas pós-dramáticas. Para tanto indicamos uma genealogia que tem como importantes e distintos pontos de cristalização Um Coração Simples (1877) de Flaubert e Uma Vida em Segredo (1964) de Autran Dourado, ao invés de Bartleby (1856) de Melville como privilegiado por Agamben e Deleuze. Neste percurso é necessário nos remeter às transformações que no teatro remontam a Tchecov e a Gordon Craig, passando por Beckett, Duras, Handke, até Lagarce e Fosse; no cinema, implicaria uma reavaliação do trabalho de Robert Bresson, especialmente em “Mouchette” (1968) e que ecoa em diferentes propostas no cinema contemporâneo.

Resumen En el presente ensayo trataremos de reconstruir el análisis de Nietzsche sobre la tragedia y la comedia griegas a partir de las nociones de liminal y liminoide del antropólogo Victor Turner. Esto nos permitirá cuestionar un aspecto crítico presente en el argumento nietzscheano. La cultura artística – sostenida principalmente por la fuerza dionisíaca – no necesariamente puede servir de parámetro para una crítica normativa de la cultura en general. En el teatro está en juego una economía de las representaciones que debe ser analizada obra por obra. El teatro griego combina aspectos rituales y metateatrales. En este sentido, proponemos un análisis de la estructura dramática de algunas obras de Esquilo, Sófocles, Eurípides y Aristófanes a partir de las nociones de liminalidad y liminoide. Sostendremos que el desarrollo dramático en juego en las transformaciones del teatro griego no sólo no dejan de contemplar el aspecto dionisíaco, sino que tienen un fuerte sentido de crítica social. La transformación técnica de la escritura dramática ya contempla algunas de las transformaciones sociales que la hicieron posible. Resumo No presente ensaio tentaremos reconstruir a análise de Nietzsche sobre a tragédia e a comédia gregas a partir das noções de liminal e liminóide do antropólogo Victor Turner. Isto nos permitirá questionar um aspecto crítico presente no argumento nietzscheano. A cultura artística – baseada principalmente pela força dionisíaca – não necessariamente pode servir de parâmetro para uma crítica normativa da cultura em geral. No teatro está em jogo uma economia das representações que deve ser analisada obra por obra. O teatro grego combina aspectos rituais e metateatrais. Neste sentido, propomos uma análise da estrutura dramática de algumas obras de Ésquilo, Sófocles, Eurípedes e Aristófanes a partir das noções de liminalidade e liminóide. Argumentaremos que o desenvolvimento dramático em jogo nas transformações do teatro grego não só não deixam de contemplar o aspecto dionisíaco, mas também têm um forte sentido de crítica social. A transformação técnica da escritura dramática já contempla algumas das transformações sociais que a fizeram possível.

Als populäres Sujet innerhalb der Künste markiert Blindheit keinen Gegensatz, sondern eine spezifische Ausprägung visueller Wahrnehmung. Vor dem Hintergrund der von den Visual Culture Studies, der Kunst-, Theater-und Kulturwissenschaft vorangetriebenen Beschäftigung mit Formen und Praktiken visueller Wahrnehmung, Sichtbarkeit und Repräsentation widmet sich Paradox Blindheit der grundsätzlichen Verschränkung von Konzepten des Sehens und der Blindheit. Der Band rückt mit dem Ziel, Bedeutungen und Funktionen von Blindheit in den Künsten näher zu bestimmen, eine Auswahl neuerer Arbeiten aus der Literatur, der Fotografie, dem Theater und der szenischen Installationskunst in den Fokus. Nachgewiesen wird, dass diese neueren, im Kontext des westlichen Denkens zu verortenden Auseinandersetzungen mit Blindheit keine Absage an das Paradigma der Visualität darstellen, sondern sich als produktiv für das Aushebeln und Aufbrechen verkürzter, ausgrenzender und normierender Praktiken visueller Wahrnehmung erweisen. Die Einbeziehung kulturhistorischer Deutungsmuster wie Blindheit als Strafe oder männliches Privileg ist dabei unabdingbar, dienen diese kulturellen Deutungsmuster doch bis in die Gegenwart als Matrix für vielschichtige und ambivalente Aushandlungen von Blindheit an der Schwelle zwischen konventionellen Kategorien des Sehens und Nichtsehens, des Wissens und Nichtwissens sowie des Materiellen und Immateriellen.

Obwohl das sogenannte postdramatische Theater seit Jahrzehnten das Geschehen auf den deutschsprachigen Bühnen maßgeblich mitbestimmt, wird das dahinterliegende Konzept weder in der universitären Lehrer*innenausbildung noch im Schulunterricht ausreichend reflektiert. Der vorliegende Aufsatz versteht sich als Anregung zur Modellierung einer allgemeinen Didaktik des postdramatischen Theaters. Grundlage hierfür ist das im Feuilleton breit diskutierte Stück FEAR (UA 2015) des renommierten Theaterautors und -regisseurs Falk Richter (geb. 1969), worin die verschiedenen Ängste einer nach Identität(en) ringenden deutschen Gesellschaft künstlerisch zum Ausdruck kommen. Am Beispiel einer Inszenierung aus dem Jahr 2016 werden die Charakteristika des postdramatischen Theaters im Vergleich zum dramatischen Theater herausgearbeitet und Vorschläge für ihre Didaktisierung vorgestellt. Fazit: Keine Angst vor postdramatischem Theater!

Translated chapter
Title of the chapter as originally published in English translation:
"Panorama of Postdramatic Theatre"
(Lehmann, Hans-Thies. Postdramatic Theatre. Trans. Karen Jürs-Munby. London and New York: Routledge, 2006)

فصل مترجم من كتاب هانز-تيز ليمان "المسرح ما بعد الدرامي"
نُشِرَ في مجلة فصول العدد (73) ربيع/صيف 2008
ص ص 30-71.

In this chapter, we aim to shed light on the expanded forms of postdramatic writing by analyzing a largely overlooked aspect of theatrical practice, that is, the creative process and how it is charted – whether consciously or not – in the multifarious ‘writings’ that are produced along the way. Looking beyond the script in its finalized stage and beyond the actual staging of the text, we want to delve into how working documents offer illuminating insights into postdramatic stagings, precisely because they contain the seeds of the formal aesthetics for particular performances. Insofar as various forms of writing correlate to whatever form postdramatic theatre might take on stage, it is necessary to look more closely at these traces of creative labour, which often escape attention as they remain only latently present in the eventual work. Our discussion here will centre on two leading directors, Romeo Castellucci and Guy Cassiers, each of whom has been instrumental to the development of postdramatic theatre, despite profound differences between their respective approaches. Juxtaposing their notebooks will therefore not only bring into relief the specific characteristics of their postdramatic practice, but also – and most importantly – how these distinct aesthetics germinate in the working documents.

The analysis of a dramatic work is generally characterized by two approaches, which are frequently counter-posed to each other: The approach based on theatre studies tends to narrow down a dramatic text to a script, while the approach based on literary studies tends to see the above text without regard to its theatrical implementation. In our essay, we assume that these two approaches are intertwined: A dramatic work is meant for theatrical performance, which makes it different from other forms of literature. The theatrical nature of dramatic works leaves an imprint on their literary characteristics. We offer a new way of looking at the relationship between the performance text and the dramatic text from the ontological, semiotic, and communicative perspective.

Resumo No estudo da produção dramática destacam-se duas abordagens principais, muitas vezes opostas uma da outra: a teatral, na qual o texto literário do drama de fato é reduzido a um roteiro, e a literária, na qual se procura estudar o texto de forma independente de sua vinculação teatral. Em nosso ensaio, partimos do pressuposto de que essas duas abordagens estão conectadas: o trabalho dramático se destina à produção teatral, e esse fato o diferencia de outros gêneros da literatura. A natureza teatral do drama deixa marcas nas suas características literárias. A novidade no artigo é a consideração da relação entre o texto teatral da encenação e o texto literário do drama, nas perspectivas ontológica, semiótica e comunicativa.

El presente trabajo analiza el texto dramático Apátrida, doscientos años y unos meses de Rafael Spregelburd desde los procedimientos posdramáticos señalados por el teórico Hans-Thies Lehmann con el propósito de advertir una problematización respecto del concepto de " Estado nacional ". Sostenemos que el dramaturgo a partir de la apelación a ciertos principios deconstructivos de la representación teatral no sólo pone en tensión las fronteras entre ficción y realidad sino que, también, contribuye a demarcar la imposibilidad de abordar la idea de un " Estado nacional ". Para ilustrar este aspecto, se proseguirá por analizar la estructura superficial del texto dramático.

Note: research is written in Dutch.
Research coach: Marijn de Langen
Second coach: Jan Pieter Koch
ArtEZ Honours Programme

Play with the A$$MPTNS is een onderzoek naar de veronderstellingen van de toeschouwer en hoe je als muziektheatermaker om kan gaan met deze veronderstellingen wanneer je werk wil maken dat niet aan deze veronderstellingen voldoet. Aan de hand van gedachtegoed van Jaques Rancière, Henkjan Honing en Hans-Thies Lehman denk ik na over geëmancipeerd toeschouwerschap, postdramatisch muziektheater en de lichamelijkheid van muziek. Ik gebruik praktijkvoorbeelden van mijzelf en andere kunstenaars om in te gaan op mijn hypothese: miscommunicatie tussen muziektheatermaker en toeschouwer ontstaat door wederzijdse verwachtingen die niet overeenkomen. Ik concludeer dat de muziektheatermaker zich bewust dient te zijn van de verwachtingen van de toeschouwer. Vervolgens kan hij/zij de keuze maken om de toeschouwer uit te nodigen haar vorm van toeschouwerschap te veranderen door te spelen met de veronderstellingen van de toeschouwer.

O ensaio pretende investigar o modo pelo qual classificações como “teatro documentário” ou “teatros do real”, muito em voga nas recentes discussões teóricas sobre a cena contemporânea, são colocados em questão, desconstruídos e ampliados pelo espetáculo paulistano Conversas com meu pai, de 2014, parceria da atriz Janaína Leite com o dramaturgo Alexandre Dal Farra. Para tal, o autor se apoia em reflexões de Jacques Rancière, Georges Didi-Huberman e Hans-Thies Lehmann sobre os encontros e separações entre arte e realidade.

ANTIDOCUMENTARYTHEATRE: Truth and fiction in Janaína Leite and Alexandre Dal Farra’s Conversations with my father
ABSTRACT: The essay intents to investigate the way categorizations such as “documentary theatre” or “theatres of the real”, very fashionable in recent theoretical discussions about the contemporary stage, are put in question, deconstructed and enlarged by the 2014 play Conversations with my father, authored together by the actress Janaína Leite and the playwright Alexandre Dal Farra. To this end, the author relies on reflections by Jacques Rancière, Georges Didi-Huberman and Hans-Thies Lehmann about the crossings and partings between art and reality.

Combining analyis of the post-structuralist crisis of the author in relation to contemporary theories of drama with discussions about selected dramatic authors of the 1980s and 1990s whose works further pushed Aristotelian theatre into crisis, the book determins that the role of the dramatic author has evolved through the creation of new textual and performative practices, though its status remains vulnerable.

The essay addresses a specific situation in which live performance found itself at the turn of the millennium. In a post-democratic world of global exchange, artists (along with theoreticians) are forced to adapt themselves to the fact that theatre (and live performance) “no longer has the function of a centre of Polis” (Lehmann). As a specific kind of an answer to this new, the marginalized position of art “in this horrifying era”, in which “humanism has become either a mere corporate ‘interest’ or ‘goal’ or a trendy strategy for computer firms,” artists produce their answers as a hybrid and fragmented form of politicised art. In Baudrillard’s post-millenial world of the trans-political, trans-national and trans-economic, contemporary performing arts return to the tactics and strategies of the political.

This article shows how postdramatic works for the theatre invite us into conceptual regions wherein the distinction between the diegetic and the mimetic modes is effectively blurred. Not only does this interfusion of mimesis and diegesis make the boundaries between the ‘fictitious’ theatrical reality and the non-theatrical somewhat permeable, but it also invites us to re-conceptualize mimesis as an act of production within a work. This auto-generative mimesis accounts for a self-propelled, non-purposive, and fluxional becoming that allows a given arrangement within a play to ever constitute itself anew. In order to arrive at a definition of mimesis as a dynamic constitutive motion from within a work, I look at the generative ontology of philosopher Gilles Deleuze and his concept of ‘expression’. This type of mimesis becomes capable of showing how plays are involved in self-constitutive processes that recompose their fabric from within. In being such, mimesis assumes the role of a generative force in the composition of literary worlds in drama.

"Amor, fragilitat, instint i tot allò que el cos no recorda" is on What the body does not remember by Wim Vandekeybus.
The article compares Vandekeybus with Jan Fabre and uses diverse theoretical texts: from Alain Badiou to Hans-Thies Lehmann.