The master's thesis deals with the transformation of theatre in the context of postmodern and postdramatic aesthetics, with an emphasis on the role of the actor and the concept of metafiction, and examines the origins of contemporary theatre aesthetics and concepts within philosophy and literary theory. My basic premise is that postdramatic theatre does not mean the simple abolition of dramatic principles and mimesis, but rather their decomposition and the constant revelation of its own construction. Illusion does not disappear, instead it is revealed and reflected, placing theatre within the broader paradigm of postmodernism, which is marked by self-referencing, fragmentation, deconstruction and hybridization of art forms. The theoretical starting point of the thesis are the thoughts of Fredric Jameson, Hans-Thies Lehmann, Bertolt Brecht, William H. Gass, Patricia Waugh, Jacques Lacan and others. Lehmann understands postdramatic theatre as theatre beyond dramatic structure, where the text loses its authoritarian dominance and becomes merely one of the elements of a complex stage vocabulary. Waugh defines the concept of metafiction as writing which is aware of its own creative processes and reflects the relationship between fiction and reality, which has strong parallels with postdramatic practices. Lacan's theory of the subject as a split and structured being through language provides a key background for understanding the disintegration of the dramatic character and the shift from mimesis to self-reflection and the deconstruction of illusion.
The empirical part of the thesis includes analyses of selected directors (Ivo van Hove, Katie Mitchell, Milo Rau, Ivica Buljan, Nina Rajić Kranjac, etc.) and my own acting experiences in theatre and film.
The thesis concludes that the essential strength of contemporary theater lies in the creation of meta- and post-illusionist strategies that do not lead the viewer to identify, but to reflect. Postdramatic theatre thus opens a space where art does not offer definitive answers, but rather raises questions and creates new forms of experience.
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