2006-09-30 23:31:03 · 3 answers · asked by Anonymous in Arts & Humanities ➔ Performing Arts
There are entire books on the subject - I'm not sure that your question can be answered here. It also depends on how you define postmodernism. If one takes Francois Lyotard's definition of postmodernism as the ultimate mistrust of grand narratives (for instance historical narratives that read the origins of country and which predict a nation's ultimate greatness) then postmodern drama might be understood itself as a deliberation of the narratives that structure a drama. So imagine a play that constantly refers to the ways in which it, itself is a play that is presenting some sort of narrative or "reality" to an audience! Try a web search on the subject (Google)
2006-10-01 05:24:13 · answer #1 · answered by Nikhil O 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Modern Drama Definition
2016-11-14 09:08:22 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Mind if I take a guess?
The era of "post modern" roughly began in the early 1960's.
Prior to post modern; theater, dance, music - the performing arts were influenced by the sweeping Art trends of the times. Painters influenced writers influenced choreographers and back again.
For example: in the 1950's Minimalism had it's day in the sun. Waiting for Godot, Theater of the Absurd and the like -- probably influenced by Dadaism were displayed as commentary and responses to the Art Trends.
Post Modern Drama is, in my humble opinion, improv based. The script and the action is built out of a "set of rules" to give it structure. As the rehearsals develop it gets more and more set under the direction of the ... director.
Merce Cunningham the choreographer used chance to decide some elements -- even by flipping a coin.
Miles Davis created Bitches Brew, an album that is chiefly improv jazz.
Richard Foreman is still creating plays based on Improv and doing quite well.
The challenges of "post modern" work which I believe is primarily improv based is that it tends to be less presentational -- and so is a lot more fun to do than it is to see. The audience has to either be highly sophisticated to understand it or it has to be crafted in a way to allow the audience to respond on some level.
That being said, here is my definition:
Post-Modern Drama defines its material by way of improvisation generating action and dialog through the performers yet guided by the director.
Yuck, kinda clunky, huh?
2006-10-01 05:31:30 · answer #3 · answered by wrathofkublakhan 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋