Abstract
Renowned French philosopher Jean Francois Lyotard described the impact of post modernization as ?The genuinely postmodern work, forces us to recognize that reality is something other than our formulations of itself and that those formulations are therefore what is constructed'. An investigation and interrogation into the performance theatre will result in radically restructuring audience perception and understanding of theatre/life. Performance studies can be researched and work will be visible if the focus is diverted to the response received through the analysis of at least two different practitioners. It is Postmodernism that plays the role of a judge in denying the idea of a true and unique reality. Postmodernism questions reality by using irony instead of metaphysics. It plays with the idea that there exists another reality. This thought of another reality was explained by Allan Kaprow (in Kirby between 1965 and 67) in a letter sent to select New Yorkers for the production of 18 Happenings in 6 Parts in the year 1959. The artist in this scenario takes off from life by targeting the different forms of art. This in turn, forces us to question our sense of the world and its reality. It further makes us reflect on the thought of placing the audience in this altered and parallel state by trying to offer new ways of seeing theatre and life. The work of The Wooster Group, Robert Wilson, Shunt and Happenings challenged reality. These groups have worked towards modifying our perception on reality by investigating other realities, and by accepting intelligence and knowledge. An Avant-garde performance piece exposes our constructed models of reality and theatre. In this process of exposing our pre-constructed models, the pulse of the audience would change from a traditional model to a broader vision. From thereon, questions on theatre, its life, reality and its existence would be a debatable topic.
