ABSTRACT
Warstat proposes an understanding of theatre history as contemporary history that emphasises the inner tensions of historiographical modes of writing about the present: does it make sense to transform the contemporary theatre, which one may have experienced oneself, into history in one’s own writing? Can the theatre of our present be meaningfully understood as history? When does the past of the theatre stop and the present of the theatre begin? A conception of theatre as “present” or “contemporary” does not seem to be easily compatible with historiographical modes of writing. And yet it is precisely the contradictions between contemporaneity and historicity that have been productive for writing about (not only the most recent) theatre practices and experiences. From this perspective, forms of theatre that define themselves as a special kind of historiography (like re-enactments or certain traditions of documentary theatre) are particularly interesting. They also point to a possible affinity between theatre historiography and performance analysis. When theatre historiography approaches the present, it requires a methodological openness and constant deliberation on the specifics of a historiographical perspective on theatre.
