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The Stay of Illusion

In this article Quick argues for a radical reconsideration of the status of illusion in contemporary performance. Countering Hans-Thies Lehmann’s critiques of fiction and narrative in what he constitutes as the post-dramatic era (Postdramatic Theatre, Routledge, 2006), Quick claims illusion is an ontological component of theatre and theatricality and that illusion might offer new ways to explore current thinking around the question of presence and subjectivity. Returning to one of the first modern dramatic works, Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the article uses the stage device and metaphor of the ghost to reflect on how the text of theatre, whether it be authored or a past performance, is always present (as a haunting) in every theatrical act. Referencing the philosophical work of Lyotard and Derrida, Quick argues that all representational acts are tied to a certain concept of theatricality and that the post-dramatic stage cannot escape the dynamic of theatrical framing. The Wooster Group’s version of Hamlet (first staged in 2008) and the earlier performance of House/Lights (1999) are analysed to examine how what might be considered as paradigms of postdramatic practice are steeped in the dynamics of illusion in their attempts to stage the real. The research in this article developed out of the following presentations and keynotes: keynote at the one day symposium on Postdramatic Theatre at Camp X in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2007; ‘The Stay of Illusion: Resisting the Post-dramatic Turn’ presented at Performance Studies International, NYU, New York in 2007; ‘Graphic Theatricality’ given at The Bristol Old Vic Theatre (Mayfest and Bristol University) in 2008; ‘False Flights in Performance: Why the Dramatic Text Remains’, presented at the Performing Literatures conference, Leeds University in 2008.