The well-made play: (not) written all over again?

This PhD will focus on theatre writing. We are at the end of the postmodern era; an era when no one claimed to believe in Grand Narratives anymore. A number of new trends are emerging. Where autonomous playwrights have been less prominent in the Low Countries the past decades, they have recently been putting themselves explicitly back on the map. There is a renewed interest in the laws of drama and what those laws can mean in the current social context.

This PhD aims to pose the following research question: is there a connection between the socially felt desire for new stories and the revived interest in drama? What might a post-postmodern dramaturgy look like?

The ultimate goal is a phased artistic investigation into the legacy and the (im)possible future(s) of the well-made play, culminating in the creation of a new play, coupled with a reflective section exploring new trends.