The paper is devoted to exploring the process of reinventing institutional
conventions of theatrical art. After describing a series of contemporary performance
phenomena, the author uses the “institution” concept from the theory of social
construction of reality and methods of deconstruction to identify the distinguishing
features of the new theater and/or “postdramatic theater” / or “post-performance
turn” theater. The change, as demonstrated in the paper, is primarily connected
with the theater’s abandoning its basic mimetic aim, the aim of simulating / depicting
reality, i.e. referencing something other than itself, while the performance accordingly
ceases to be a text, a carrier of a certain narration, plot and, eventually, an intrinsic
sense, a message to the viewer. This abandonment is made necessary by the
universal emergence of the media prevalence era that turns everything into a
“theater”, so the theater, in its contemporary manifestations, is striving more and
more to become “non-theater”. Its trives to be based primarily on what only the
theater has: a vital energy of interaction; first of all, interaction between the actor
and the viewer, or action participants (who turn out to be both actors and viewers)
organized in a certain way, or the energy of the performance space itself, or the
energy of its participants’ motion. In conclusion, the author argues that contemporary
theater – in fact, just like any institution reinventing its basic concepts – presents a
certain anthropological challenge: firstly, it appeals to a different paradigm of
perception; secondly, it requires a higher level of agency of the individual perceiving
the art.
Theater as a Socio-Cultural Institution: Overcoming Basic Conventions
