Traces of Dialogue

This book offers a captivating exploration of the evolving dynamics of language, dialogue and identity in modern theatre, highlighting the pioneering contributions of European playwrights Martin Crimp, Jon Fosse, Sarah Kane, Elfriede Jelinek and Roland Schimmelpfennig. The study reveals the complex interplay between written text and theatrical performance, upending traditional perceptions of language and personal identity. It demonstrates how the work of these writers serves as a catalyst for actors, directors and designers, and encourages a deep-dive into their creative processes by interrogating their boundary-pushing works. Covering the pivotal era of the 1990s and 2000s, the book considers the emergence of postdramatic theatre - in particular, the transition from conventional storylines and characters to avant-garde forms and narratives. It considers the role of language in crafting character identities and examines how contemporary textual approaches mirror and scrutinise the philosophical and aesthetic discussions of the late modern era. Ultimately, this book navigates the intricacies of modern dramaturgy and lauds the transformative potential of theatre to captivate and innovate, challenging a wide readership to re-evaluate the significance of dialogue and identity in contemporary theatre.

Préface
An exploration of the evolving dynamics of language, dialogue and identity in modern theatre, highlighting the pioneering contributions of European playwrights Martin Crimp, Jon Fosse, Sarah Kane, Elfriede Jelinek and Roland Schimmelpfennig.

Auteur
Mads Thygesen is Associate Professor in dramaturgy at Aarhus University, Denmark. He is also Professor in Dramaturgy at Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Norway. He has written and published more than 25 book chapters and essays about contemporary theatre and playwriting.

Contenu

Acknowledgements
Introduction

Chapter 1
Analysing the intersection of dialogue and subjectivity in the plays of Crimp, Kane, Jelinek, Fosse and Schimmelpfennig
The aims of this book
The method
Enunciation Linguistics and Theatrical Semiotics: An Overview
Utterance and enunciation: Who is speaking?
Language and Subjectivity in Late Modernity (Case Study: Crimp's When the Writer Kills Himself)
In conclusion

Chapter 2
Redefining Dramatic Writing with Martin Crimp's Advice to Iraqi Women
Introducing Deleuze's Triadic Discursive Spaces
The Collateral Space (Intertextuality: Crimp, Swift, Spock)
The Correlative Space (close analysis of the utterances and images of the text)
The Complementary Space (How the text emits criticism)
Perspectives

Chapter 3
Dialogue/End of Dialogue: From Drama to Postdramatic Theatre: Tracing the Genealogy of Writing, Subjectivity, and Form in Modern Theatre

The Origins of Postdramatic Theatre: Key Theorists
Text and Theatricality
Subjectivity in the Lens of Postdramatic Theory
Modern drama - from Crisis to Expansion
Critique of Representation: From Brecht and Beckett to Müller and Jelinek
Jelinek's Textual Innovations
Examining Subjectivity in Kane's 4:48 Psychosis
Reassessing Dramatic Forms: A Concluding Reflection

Chapter 4
Jon Fosse and Luk Perceval exploring temporal fluidity in the structure of a dream play

Luk Perceval's staging of Dream of Autumn (Traum im Herbst, Münchener Kammerspiele, 2001)
Human time and Monumental time
The intertextual World of Fosse
The Poetics of Fosse and Perceval

Chapter 5
Epic Reimagined: Schimmelpfennig and Gosch's Auf der Greifswalder Strasse

Navigating Between Realism and Fantasy: Schimmelpfennig's Epic Return
Jürgen Gosch's Theatre of Emergence
Open Theatricality
Staging and theatrical enunciation
The Complementary Space: Greifswalder Straße
Schimmelpfennig's Reflective Theatricality

Chapter 6
Sarah Kane's Blasted through Thomas Ostermeier's Vision (Zerbombt, Schaubühne 2005)
The Staging of Violence: An Introduction
Dual Realities in "Zerbombt"
The horrific
Ostermeier's realism
Dissecting the Violence Scene

Chapter 7
An absence of character
On Jacob Schokking's staging of subjectivity and emotions in Martin Crimp's Fewer Emergencies
Introduction: visual dramaturgy
Crimp's self-reflective style of writing
Schokking's Staging of Fewer Emergencies
The Triptych
From Private to Public Violence
The False Happy Ending
Conclusion

Chapter 8
My characters live only insofar as they speak - An Examination of Language, Image, and Female Subjectivity in Elfriede Jelinek's Shadow. Eurydice Says through the Lens of Katie Mitchell's Live Cinema
The Convergence of Theatre and Film
Language and Identity in Jelinek's Work
Interpreting Jelinek through Mitchell's Cinematic Vision
The Visual and Narrative Staging of Shadows
The Shift from Jelinek to Birch: Narrative Trajectories
Conclusion

Conclusion
Synthesising the Textual Landscape
Revisiting Dramatic Forms
Subjectivity, Time, and Space
Future perspectives
Concluding Reflections

Bibliography
Index