Abstract (Intro)

“During the initial assimilation period, all the technologies that man invents and succeeds in applying have the power to numb his attention.”
_Marshall McLuhan, The Gutenberg Galaxy, 1962

The massive circulation of increasingly sophisticated representation techniques has turned our daily life into a veritable “video-sphere” (Regis Debray). A mirror of life, the theatrical genre has reacted to this situation in different ways. Some playwrights resist what they consider a form of dispersion, and have looked for ways to restore the simplicity of human presence by focusing on the physical work of the actor. People like Peter Brook, Vaiere Novarina and Marco Baliani, have succeeded in finding powerful, effective forms of work. Other artists have taken advantage of the possibilities offered by new representation techniques and by the theories (the disciplines, even) that these techniques have generated, to invent a new theatrical language. These attempts to renovate the theater concern a small, even marginal, percentage of all the shows presented. Yet the individual approaches are so varied that it is impossible to provide a synthesis. At most, we can identify certain trends.

• OLIVIER HALEVY, Université Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris, France), Département de Littérature et Linguistique Françaises et Latines (LLFL)

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ISEA2000 Catalogue Papers. Produced by musica falsa, magazine on music, art & philosophy. Texts collected by Bastian Gallet. Translations by ALTO.