In my master's thesis I discussed the dramatic writing or external and internal dramatic structure of selected plays by two well-established contemporary Slovenian playwrights, Draga Potočnjak and Simona Semenič. With the help of analysis and comparison of the basic components I compared the dramatic structure of their plays. A wider view of the formal procedures was gathered by these methods, in order to recognize which procedures they are using to structure dramatic plot, dramatic characters, dramatic place, time and language and how all these components are tied together as a whole. An analysis of 14 dramatic texts showed that some of the earlier works by Draga Potočnjak follow the classical unities of action, time and place. Later on, her dramatic form becomes looser. The dramatic action is formed in a manner that brings out the interpersonal relations and the intimate and social problems of the individuals. The main protagonists are often marginalized individuals, who are not able to lead the dramatic action because of their vulnerability and social powerlessness. With her choice of protagonists, scarred by trauma, Draga Potočnjak faces the audience with painful and unpleasant themes, which society often sweeps under the rug. Among the discussed plays, Simona Semenič maintains the classical, closed structure of dramatic action only in her short play Nogavice. In the rest of the plays she develops formally innovative structures of dramatic action, which correspond to postdramatic theatre. Many postdramatic characteristics are found in her plays, such as the defying of dramatic representation of reality, a metatheatrical context, erasing the boundaries between the main and the side text, intertwining different genre elements and blurred clarity of passing the meaning. Semenič deliberately violates the traditional dramatic conventions and uses the metatheatrical context to explore the construction of the theatre medium and the ways of modern reception. The receiver takes on an active role of witnessing the complex dramatic plot, which has to be yet synthesized into a coherent meaning. In the theoretical introduction of the thesis, I have presented the crisis and the gradual disintegration of the classical Aristotelian dramatic form and the crisis of dramatic theatre, which eventually results into postdramatic theatre.
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