THE TROUBLE WITH CONTEMPORARY THEATRE: UNSETTLING THE VOCABULARY OF THEATRE POETICS
MASTERCLASS facilitated by Professor Emeritus SAVAS PATSALIDIS
20 OCTOBER – ATELIER Hall // 10.00 – 13.00
22 OCTOBER – ATELIER Hall// 10.00 – 13.00
24 OCTOBER – CINEMA Hall // 10.00 – 13.00
UNATC, Str. Matei Voievod 75-77
SAVAS PATSALIDIS, PhD
Professor Emeritus in Theatre Studies
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece
Editor-in-chief of Critical Stages/Scènes critiques
International Association of Theatre Critics
Inter-Balkan Network of Culture, Art, and Education
What do we mean when we describe a theatrical practice as contemporary/, /modern/, /postmodern, / or /outdated/?
These seemingly familiar terms are often used to classify theatre with remarkable confidence, yet their meanings are neither fixed nor self-evident. They are relative categories, shaped by particular historical, cultural, aesthetic, and political contexts—and what appears “contemporary” in one cultural context may seem radically different, or even outdated, in another.
This three-part seminar series begins by questioning precisely these assumptions. It will examine the language we use to describe theatre practice and consider how terms such as “contemporary”, “modern”, and “outdated” acquire meaning, authority, and cultural specificity. Rather than treating them as stable categories, we will explore them as contested concepts whose meanings shift across time, place, and theatrical traditions.
Having established this critical framework, the seminars will move towards a practical “roadmap” for navigating the poetics of contemporary Western theatre. We will focus on a series of concepts that lie at the heart of current theatrical debates, including work, text, originality, hybridity, monoculturalism, multiculturalism, tolerance, limits, space, time, self, identity, character, and body. These terms will serve not simply as definitions to be learned, but as points of entry into larger questions about how theatre is made, understood (or misunderstood), interpreted, and situated within contemporary culture.
The aim is not to provide a definitive vocabulary or a single model of what contemporary theatre should be, but rather to develop a set of critical tools with which to approach its diverse and often contradictory practices. By the end of the three seminars, graduate students and other interested groups will have a conceptual framework for questioning received categories, recognizing the cultural assumptions embedded in theatrical discourse, and more confidently navigating the complex landscape of contemporary Western theatre and its poetics.
Savas Patsalidis is Professor Emeritus in Theatre Studies at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where he taught at the School of English for close to 35 years. He has also taught at the Drama School of the National Theatre of Northern Greece (NTNG), the Hellenic Open University, and the graduate program of the Theatre Department of Aristotle University. He is the author of fourteen books on theatre and performance criticism/theory and co-editor of another thirteen. His two-volume study, Theatre, Society, Nation: From America to the United States (University Studio Press, 2010), was awarded first prize for best theatre study of the year. His other major works include: Theatre and Globalization (Papazisis, 2013), Theatre Interventions (University Studio Press, 2013), and Struggling with the Classics: About Locality and Glo-c-ality (2015). In 2019, his book Theatre & Theory II: About Topoi, Utopias and Heterotopias was published by University Studio Press, followed in 2022 his book-length study Comedy’s Encomium: The Seriousness of Laughter. In addition to his academic work, he writes theatre reviews for various journals. He serves on the Executive Committee of the Hellenic Association of Theatre and Performing Arts Critics, is a member of the curators’ team for the Forest International Festival (organized by NTNG), editor-in-chief of Critical Stages/Scènes critiques (the journal of the International Association of Theatre Critics), a member of the Advisory Board of CONCEPT academic journal (concept.unatcpress.ro), and a founding member of the Inter-Balkan Network of Culture, Art, and Education.
Masterclass organized within UNATC Learning Center – Educational infrastructure, Research, and Experiments, CNFIS-FDI-2026-F-1397, funded by the Ministry of Education and Research through the Institutional Development Fund (FDI) 2026, Project Director: Assoc. Prof. Mihaela Beţiu, PhD.