ABSTRACT

This chapter compares two major attempts to overcome the bourgeois theatre, focusing predominately on Forum Theatre and on learning plays (Lehrstücke). The author examines these forms’ shared critiques of theatre as an institution—a means of production that owns its producers rather than being owned by them—and analyzes their common attempts to create new theatrical frames and means of production. Finally, the chapter also takes on the role of the “hero” and its remarkable differences in these two theatrical approaches.