Mnemosyne Theatre
In my thesis, I will study encounters between distinct periods of time, using performances created by four Western European contemporary directors: Frank Castorf, François Tanguy, Romeo Castellucci and Rodrigo García. I wish to examine how these directors address history as a simultaneous process, in which past and present not two separate entities, but rather dynamically entangled. My central concept, of 'contemporary afterlives' will guide my investigation of their theatrical work for images and gestures that operate as condensed products of both past and present, and that speak to us from the past about the present. By referring to Warburg’s theories, I will conduct a transdisciplinary historical research, thereby contributing to ongoing debates about the status of theatre in the global society of spectacle. Indeed, while acknowledging the fact that current academic discussions often anticipate the 'death' of theatre, my work will instead focus on the fertile elements which can be found in the work of the four chosen directors, ultimately leading to a political resistance or an artistic renascence.