Playwrightb. 1938
Caryl Churchill
British playwright who continually reinvents dramatic form: Top Girls, Far Away, Escaped Alone.
Layer 02
Encyclopedia
The parts list. Every concept, maker, and company you'll need to assemble the story.
CompanyFounded 1983
Complicité
Simon McBurney's company, blending physical theatre, text, and technology — e.g. The Encounter, heard entirely through headphones.
Concept1960s–
Devised Theatre
Work created collaboratively by an ensemble, usually without a pre-existing script. Rooted in Grotowski, the Living Theatre, and Joint Stock.
Concept1990s–
Digital Performance
Theatre made with or through networked media — livestreams, VR, games, social platforms.
CompanyFounded 1984
Forced Entertainment
Sheffield ensemble led by Tim Etchells, known for durational, playful, and self-aware devised work.
Concept2000s–
Immersive Theatre
Performance that places audiences inside the world of the work, often free to move, explore, and interact. Spaces replace seats.
Playwrightb. 1964
Lynn Nottage
Two-time Pulitzer winner (Ruined, Sweat), whose research-driven plays bridge documentary and drama.
Artistb. 1946
Marina Abramović
Performance artist whose The Artist Is Present (2010) made sitting across from her the artwork itself.
Concept1999
Postdramatic Theatre
Hans-Thies Lehmann's term for performance that no longer centers the dramatic text. Image, body, sound, time, and the presence of spectators become the material.
CompanyFounded 2000
Punchdrunk
British company led by Felix Barrett. Sleep No More (2003/2011) made masked, roaming audiences a global phenomenon.
CompanyFounded 2000
Rimini Protokoll
German–Swiss collective casting 'experts of the everyday' instead of actors, often staging cities themselves (Remote X).
Concept1970s–
Site-Specific Performance
Work made for and shaped by a particular non-theatre location — a factory, a forest, a city street.
Concept1970s
Spect-actor
Augusto Boal's term from Theatre of the Oppressed: spectators who step in to change the action.
Concept1970s–
Verbatim Theatre
Plays built from the exact words of real people. Examples: The Laramie Project, Anna Deavere Smith's Fires in the Mirror.
Playwrightb. 1934
Wole Soyinka
Nigerian Nobel laureate fusing Yoruba ritual and modern drama: Death and the King's Horseman.