Intertexts of Theatrical Experiments in the Plays of Kostas Ostrauskas

Abstract

During the past decade, the plays of Kostas Ostrauskas (1926–2012) have been studied in terms of their intertextuality, with researchers such as Irina Melnikova, Reda Pabarčienė and others highlighting the structural and semantic dialogue between the author’s own vs. borrowed words, and with literary texts, different art forms (literature, music, painting, cinema), and so on. However, theatre had yet to be included in the intertexts being studied, even though it is often referred to as one of the most important contexts (c.f. Jonas Lankutis, Jurgis Blekaitis, Ingrida Ruchlevičienė, etc). Drawing on the theatre performativity studies of Hans-Thies Lehmann and Erika Fischer-Lichte, the author of this article explores the question of context and how it becomes intertext in Ostrauskas’s dramas.
In his first-wave avantgarde works Ostrauskas creates a relationship of parody (the intertext of the microdrama “Instaliacija” (Installation) is Marcel Duchamp’s sculpture “The Fountain”; the microdrama “Šauksmas” (The Cry) references Edvard Munch’s Expressionist painting). In secondwave avantgarde works – in “Fluxus” events and performances – Ostrauskas creates an imitative relationship, further extending the limits of experimentation (the “Fluxus” intertext – George Maciunas’s performance “Piano Activities” – is reduced to one performer, the action is complicated by the introduction of classical music; the text of “Paskutinis monologas” (Final Monologue) consists only of the title and the comment “silence,” extending John Cage’s idea of silent plays by eliminating the stage’s actor and object). The playwright reduced the extent of the verbal text to a minimum (referring to the play as a microdrama), focusing on the ideas of performance and action.