Experimental Theatre

Experimental theatre (often referred to as avant-garde theatre) covers a wide range of styles, practitioners, and methods of creation. However, it is united in its efforts to try something new on stage and turn away from conventional, mainstream theatre. This guide will look at the development of experimental theatre, beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing to the present day.

Terminology

• Biomechanics: a style of acting developed by Vsevolod Meyerhold which directly opposed method acting and instead centered on a series of set body movements and gestures.
• Dadaism: concerned with or acting through opposing forces.
• Dialectical: used to describe certain devices used in performance, such as direct address to an audience, the use of placards or signs etc.
• Epic Theatre: a theatrical movement that came into prominence in the mid-20th century and is mainly linked to the famous work of Bertolt Brecht.
• Expressionism: a style of theatre that utilized theatrical elements and scenery with exaggeration and distortion in order to convey strong feelings and ideas to audiences.
• Fourth wall: an imaginary wall that keeps performers from recognizing or directly addressing their audience.
• Improvisation: to invent and create unscripted content in the spur of the moment.
• Manifesto: a public definition of beliefs, intentions, and aims.
• Surrealism: a literary, artistic and revolutionary movement, founded in Paris during the 1920s.
• The Living Theatre: the oldest experimental theatre company in the USA.
• Theatre of Cruelty: a style of theatre developed by Antonin Artaud that aimed to shock its audience into confronting the basis of human life.
• Theatre of the Absurd: drama which abandons conventional dramatic form to portray the futility of human struggle in a senseless world.
• Theatre of the Oppressed: a style proposed by Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal to use theatre as a vehicle for social change.

Key Dates & Events

• 1896 - Alfred Jarry’s Ubu Roi premiered in Paris and scandalized audiences with its bizarre and unconventional premise.
• 1926 - Vsevolod Meyerhold staged a landmark production of Nikolai Gogol’s The Government Inspector .
• 1947 - Foundation of The Living Theatre, the oldest experimental theatre in America.
• 1964 - Peter Brook’s groundbreaking production of Marat/Sade stunned its audiences and won the Tony Award for Best Play the following year.
• 1966 - Peter Brook invited Grotowski and his company to the Royal Shakespeare Company to work with his actors on his experimental, anti-Vietnam War play Us.
• 1979 - Augusto Boal published his manifesto on Theatre of the Oppressed.
• 1986 - Augusto Boal founded the Center for the Theatre of the Oppressed in Rio de Janeiro.
• 1991 - Robert Wilson established The Watermill Center in New York.
• 1999 - Richard Maxwell founded the New York City Players.
• 2000 - The experimental theatre company, Punchdrunk, was founded in the UK.