Performative Gender in Contemporary Theatre : a case study of Susan Sontag and Simona Semenič

Knez, Nuša (author), Toporišič, Tomaž (mentor), Blake, Jason Frederick (mentor)

The following thesis investigates the dynamics of how contemporary theatre portrays gender. It focuses on illuminating how theatre can function as a tool of undermining a dual perspective on gender and social reality. This is done by firstly highlighting some of the most influential gender theories from the second half of the 20th century (de Beauvoir, Bourdieu, Fausto-Sterling and Butler). Later, an overview of the postmodern conditions of being are presented, as means that crucially shaped the theatre of today. The final theoretical chapter focuses on Lehmann’s theory of the postdramatic theatre. The analytical part of the thesis then utilizes the theoretical framework as a means of conducting a qualitative historical analysis of the chosen postdramatic texts and their on-stage adaptations. They are, Susan Sontag’s Alice in Bed (1993) and Simona Semenič’s seven cooks, four soldiers and three sophias (2014), directed by Ivo van Hove and by Diego de Brea, respectively.

• Language: English
• Keywords: gender theory, performative gender, postdramatic theatre, Sontag, Semenič
• Work type: Master's thesis/paper
• Typology: 2.09 - Master's Thesis
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Place of publishing: Ljubljana
• Publisher: [N. Knez]
• Year: 2021
• Number of pages: 85 str.
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-133661
• UDC: 316.74:[792.9:82-2]
• COBISS.SI-ID: 88670723
• Publication date in RUL: 08.12.2021

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Performativ spola v sodobnem gledališču : študija primerov Susan Sontag in Simone Semenič

Abstract

Magistrsko delo preučuje dinamiko prikazovanja spola v sodobnem gledališču. Osredotoči se na poudarjanje tega, kako lahko gledališče deluje kot orodje spodkopavanja dualne perspektive spola in družbene realnosti. Sprva je to realizirano preko izpostavitve nekaterih izmed bolj vplivnih teorij spola iz druge polovice 20. stoletja (de Beauvoir, Bourdieu, Fausto-Sterling in Butler). Nato je predstavljen pregled postmodernih pogojev bivanja, pri čemer je poudarjena perspektiva, ki je ključno pomagala izoblikovali današnje postdramsko gledališče (Lehmann). Analitični del naloge uporabi teoretski okvir kot prizmo, preko katere je izvedena kvalitativna historična analiza izbranih postdramskih tekstov ter njunih uprizoritev. Primera izbrana za analizo sta Alice v postelji (1993), avtorice Susan Sontag ter sedem kuharic, štirje soldati in tri sofije (2014) avtorice Simone Semenič, ki sta ju režirala Ivo van Hove in Diego de Brea.

• Keywords: teorija spola, performativ spola, postdramsko gledališče, Sontag, Semenič