Postdramatic theatre and pre-theatrical drama, what’s in a name? An afterlife for early British drama

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Abstract

This essay reconsiders what made late-medieval British drama distinct from that of other periods and what it shared with those dramas. It argues for a form of afterlife for the medieval and early Tudor stage in the dramaturgy of postmodern performance. Responding to Hans-Thies Lehmann’s claims for a ‘post’-dramatic theatre, it suggests that we should also think about a ‘pre’-dramatic theatre, or rather a ‘pre-theatrical drama,’ existing, not in the tragic theatre of ancient Greece, but in late medieval England and Scotland, and that the ‘postdramatic’ and the ‘pre-theatrical’ have much in common in their radical approaches to stagecraft.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)131-149
Number of pages20
JournalSPELL: Swiss Papers in English Language and Literature
Volume43
Publication statusPublished - 21 Jan 2024

Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)

  • postdramatic theatre
  • playhouses
  • pre-theatrical drama
  • interludes
  • morality drama

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