The anti- theater is a phenomenon that arose at the end of the first half of the 20th century along with related concepts, such as “ anti-art ” and “anti-literature”, reflecting the theater’s desire to abandon the laws of drama. The term was developed in the 1950s and refers to any form of drama that is not naturalistic, traditional. The term “theater” is widespread in the field of art , theater , literary studies , aesthetics and other humanitarian disciplines. In the etymological respect, the prefix “anti” in this case indicates not only the denial of anything, but also the meanings historically recorded in other Greek. ἀντί - "instead, like, like, in return." The prefix “anti” arises at the time of socio-political disasters, in the interval between the First and Second World Wars, reflecting the search for a new foundation of art. “Anti” - art / theater / literature are designed to reflect the rebuke to the current forms of art in the impossibility of meeting the times.
Over time, the meaning of the term has changed. Today, the antitheater is articulated as an interdisciplinary phenomenon that reflects the movement of modern visual art into the theater. The antitheater is close in its intentions to the post-dramatic theater , however, it reflects the rapprochement of modern art and theater, initiated by the Sovrisk (the traumatic theater comes from the theater). The anti-theater takes various forms and manifestations that were previously considered radical, and seeks to blur genre boundaries and hierarchies.
History
The introduction and use of the prefix “anti” in relation to the phenomena of artistic culture is caused, first of all, by the need to mark directions, works and approaches alternative to official, established forms of culture. Such a need was most openly and consistently manifested in the 20th century. in connection with the development of avant-garde art forms . So, back in 1919, the largest French poet Tristan Tzara approvingly called the artist Francis Picabia “anti-artist” [1] , in 1929 Andre Breton discussed the term “anti-art” in relation to his surrealism [2] , in 1932 d. Surrealism was called "anti-literature" [3] , and in 1957, J.-P. Sartre used the concept of “anti-novel” [4] . It should be noted that the concept of “anti-art” has become especially common since the 1960s in the post-war so-called neo-vanguard (" Fluxus ", conceptual art , performance art , etc.), both in the texts of the artists themselves and art critics.
Along with the concept of “anti-art”, since 1958 the term “anti-theater”, first appeared in Martin Esslin's article “Eugene Ionesco. Theater and Anti-Theater ” [5] : the famous playwright ranked his plays as an antitheater (the notion of“ anti-play ”entered the critical language in 1953 with the premiere of“ Waiting for Godot ”by S. Becket, the largest play in the history of 20th century dramaturgy) In the monograph Theater of the Absurd, Martin Esslin refers to the theater of the absurd as an anti-theater in the context of anti-realism. Thus, historically, the term “theater” has been associated with the so-called " Theater of the absurd ":
In a review of the staging of Chairs and Lesson at the Royal Court Theater, Tynen warned readers that opponents of realism in the theater could get a messiah in the person of Ionesco: make sense and all communication between people is impossible.
- M. Esslin. Theater of the absurd
Vladimir Bibikhin, considering the Ionesco theater, defines the theater as “a way to restore the theater”: “Just as a person only comes back to himself when he ecstatically leaves the private framework of his existence, culture and language are not afraid of a cleansing fire” [6] .
Since the 1960s by analogy with other phenomena of modern art culture, the concept of “theater” has become used also in relation to any other experimental dramatic forms that are not traditionally dramatic (for example, Living Theater (since 1946), happenings by E. Caprow, J. Dyne and others ( since 1958)).
Currently, the term does not have a strict meaning and unambiguous contexts of use, but thanks to the well-known theatrical critic Jonas Barish's “Anti-Theater Prejudice” (1981), historical criticism of the theater as a phenomenon of art also matters.
Notes
- ↑ Tristan Tzara. Zurich Chronicle (Fr.) // Dada: Journal. - 1919. - Mai ( n o 4-5 ).
- ↑ Andre Breton. Second Manifeste du Surréalisme (Fr.) // La Révolution surréaliste: journal. - 1929. - 15 décembre ( n o 12 ).
- ↑ Caravan A. Andre Breton. Letter to R. Gaffe about Arthur Kravan // "I dreamed of being so big that I could form a republic from me ...": Selected Works / transl. with french and English, comp., entry. Art., comm. and note. M. Lepilova. - Gilea, 2013.
- ↑ Natalie Sarrot. Foreword J.-P. Sartre // Portrait of the Unknown. - Gallimard, 1957.
- ↑ Eslyn M. Eugene Ionesco. Theater and Antitheater (Russian) // Baltic Seasons. - 2010.
- ↑ V. Bibikhin. The fate of art and culture in Western European thought of the XX century. - INION, 1983 .-- S. 181.