The Image of History in Matei Vișniec’s Dramaturgy

Abstract

This paper aims at analyzing the dramaturgical tools in Matei Vișniec’s dramaturgy, which shed light upon the relation between art and history, between art under the cover of fiction and what takes place outside the walls of the theatre. These two are never completely split, they intertwine and they empower one another. A key point in Matei Vișniec’s work is the way in which history is presented like a mechanism dwelling phenomena always ready to repeat themselves, as for instance totalitarianism. The content of the paper is based on theoretical approaches, also on the opinions of the dramaturge in relation with his own creation and on practical assumption following a personal point of view of the actor integrated within two productions based on plays written by Matei Vișniec: The Spectator Sentenced to Death and Richard III Will Not Take Place or Scenes of the Life of Meyerhold.