Identiteto sampratos kaita postmoderniame teatre

Abstract

The object of the research is postmodern transformations of the notion of identity and its influence on the perception of the actor‘s body, presence and relations with the text. The postmodern use of the actor’s body and identity in Lithuanian theater can be grouped as follows: self-reflexive acting, body as text and non-professional performing. In order to escape a logocentristic position, theater theorists and practitioners turn their attention to the actor’s body and identity as an alternative way of self-reflexive acting. As new tendencies of self-reflexive theater exploring its own representational devises became more and more evident, a new approach to acting appeared on the Lithuanian theater stage. It dealt more with presentation and not re-presentation of reality. An actor is viewed as an intertextual persona, consisting of his/her own identity, body and pieces of the role being constructed and deconstructed at the same time. Another emerging “new language“ of contemporary Lithuanian theater, closely linked with its self-reflexive character as well as redefinition of the role of text in performance, is the use of the actor’s body as a culturally coded sign. Attention to the body in theater performances is mainly influenced by post structural ideas on a socially and culturally coded body, unable to overcome ideological encoding. Some recent movements in Lithuanian theater towards the separation of the actor from the role have led to the recognition of the actor’s body as a cultural text. Modern performance theory subjected actor’s body to the discipline of drama text or archetypal psychic impulses, repressing as well as ignoring its materiality. On the other hand, postmodern actor acknowledges ideological and cultural codes and deconstructs their representation with the help of self-reflexive acting or displaying discursive aspects of human body.[...].