Performativity – Stage Design – Avantgard
Performativity – Stage Design – Avantgard

Summary/Abstract: In the dramatic texts of the classical (French) avant-garde there are more performative than semantically analysable characteristics. The texts of Albert-Birot, Ribemont-Dessaignes, Picasso and above all Tzara, became parts of the literary canon in their written forms, but the complete afterlife of their dramatic structures is becoming visible with the rise of postdramatic theatre. My analysis searches for the tools, provided by theatrical and literary history, that allows us to follow the dramatic interpretations of classical (French) avant-garde theatrical texts through their almost century-old history. The analysis involves the audience necessary to accept these texts, and the theatrical form languages and on-stage contexts capable of transforming these texts, devoid of meaning and a system of rules, into artistic achievement through the presence of performativity. The research is based on Tzara’s theatrical texts, cabaret scenes, performances, especially their 1916 and contemporary representations, but without disregarding the contemporary performative techniques, theatrical spaces and dramatic utterances, or the contrast between the readers‘ expectations and understanding then and now.

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