Postdramatic theatre is theatre after drama: it does not portray a dramatic text, as is customary in the theatre inherited from the European tradition, but develops based on an performative aesthetic, according to which each element of the performance (actors' presence, text, scenery, costumes, sound, music, video, etc.) retains its independence and holds an equal position with the others.

At the same time, this theatre gives great importance to the active perception of the audience and develops new communication strategies between stage and audience. The pioneering study by the German theatre scholar Hans-Thies Lehmann (1944-2022), first published in 1999 in Germany, has been translated into more than twenty languages and has become a reference point in the international dialogue for contemporary theatre.

The book focuses on new forms of theatre developed from the late 1960s to the late 1990s and offers key insights for analyzing and understanding them, examining their relationships with older theatre, with movements of historical avant-garde, and with other art forms, as well as their role within the modern cultural and social environment shaped by new technologies and media.

Lehmann refers to a multitude of performances by theatrical creators such as Robert Wilson, Klaus-Michael Grüber, Tadeusz Kantor, Jan Fabre, Societas Raffaello Sanzio, Needcompany, and Wooster Group, while also engaging with a wide range of thinkers and philosophers, from Aristotle and Hegel to Adorno, Deleuze, and Badiou.

He thus uniquely combines historical overview, dialogue with contemporary art, and theoretical reflection. An exciting reference work for theatre practitioners, theatre and art theorists, and all those seeking a guide to navigate the contemporary theatrical landscape.