Revisiting the Anthropo(S)Cene: Theatrical Practices Beyond the Human Stage?

Authors

  • Michael Wehren

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i28.503

Keywords:

Anthropocene, anthroposcene, theatre studies, scene, actor, post-anthropocentrism, field recording

Abstract

This article outlines the specifically modern understanding of an anthroposcenic theatre by (among others) referring to August Wilhelm Iffland’s concept of the “Menschendarsteller” and takes a closer look at Max Herrmann’s article “Das theatralische Raumerlebnis”. As I will show in my reading of Herrmann’s now canonical text, the early discourse of theatre studies not only reproduces the anthroposcenic dispositive of theatre but also already hints at its limits and the breaking up of the closed and privileged scene of the Anthropos. The article tries to show how, by asking and focusing the question of space and theatrical transformation, while still focusing on the human actor, his actions and the mimetic relationship between actor and audience, Herrmann decenters and denaturalizes the anthropocentric, universalized, and naturalized framings of theatre.

 

Article received: December 12, 2021; Article accepted: February 1, 2022; Published online: April 15, 2022; Original scholarly article

Author Biography

Michael Wehren

Michael Wehren
Institut für Theaterwissenschaft, Universität Leipzig, Leipzig
Germany

Michael Wehren (b. 1979) studied philosophy and theatre studies at the University of Leipzig, where he has also worked as a scientific assistant at the Institute for Theatre Studies. His doctoral thesis focusses on Brecht’s learning plays, the Fatzer-fragment and their contemporary productivity. His other areas of research include critical perspectives on class and classism in the context of theatre, body politics in modern dance, global theatres of justice and re-stagings of crimes, the transmedial afterlife of the Shoah and the Holocaust in theatre and film as well as theories of the third in the context of contemporary performance art. He is a member of the free theatre- and performance-groups EitR and Friendly Fire and works as a personal assistant at the Fonds Darstellende Künste (Berlin).

References

Baumbach, Gerda. Schauspieler. Historische Anthropologie des Akteurs. Band 1 Schauspielstile. Leipzig: Leipziger Universitätsverlag, 2012.

Brook, Peter. The Empty Space. New York: Touchstone, 1996.

Heeg, Günther. Das transkulturelle Theater. Berlin: Theater der Zeit, 2017.

Herrmann, Max, “Das theatralische Raumerlebnis.” In Raumtheorie. Grundlagentexte aus Philosophie und Kulturwissenschaften, ed. by Jörg Dünne and Stephan Günzel, 501–13. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 2006.

Iffland, Wilhelm August. Fragmente über Menschendarstellung auf den deutschen Bühnen, Erste Sammlung. Gotha: Karl Wilhelm Ettinger, 1785.

Szondi, Peter. Theorie des modernen Dramas (1880–1950). Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp, 1963.

Szondi, Peter. “Theory of the Modern Drama, Parts I-II.” boundary 2 11, 3 (The Criticism of Peter Szondi, Spring, 1983): 191–230. doi: 10.2307/303010 DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/303010

Winderen, Jana. Spring Bloom in the Marginal Ice Zone. London: Touch 2018.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i27.503

On cover: Provisonal Salta Ensemble, Dubravka Đurić i Miško Šuvaković: Eco-cut, foto-colague, 1989–2022.

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Published

15.04.2022

How to Cite

Wehren, M. (2022). Revisiting the Anthropo(S)Cene: Theatrical Practices Beyond the Human Stage?. AM Journal of Art and Media Studies, (27), 129–139. https://doi.org/10.25038/am.v0i28.503

Issue

No. 27 (2022): Issue No. 27, April 2022 – Main Topic: TRANS-TACTICAL IMPACTS: The transdisciplinary, transcultural, transnational, translinguistic, transmedia, and transindividual in contemporary humanities, politics, artistic and media practices

Section

PANEL PRESENTATION Theatre Beyond the Anthropo(s)cene: About Spaces, Things and Views from Afar, prepared by Micha Braun

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