* This collection builds a broad basis for a possible and necessary paradigmatic shift in the field of theater and performance historiography. * Would be recommended reading in for any undergraduate or master's level students studying theatre history, drama and dance. * The closest competitors do not explore the term 'entangled histories'. Therefore this collection breaks new ground by looking at this concept as a new paradigm in the field.

* This collection builds a broad basis for a possible and necessary paradigmatic shift in the field of theater and performance historiography. * Would be recommended reading in for any undergraduate or master's level students studying theatre history, drama and dance. * The closest competitors do not explore the term 'entangled histories'. Therefore this collection breaks new ground by looking at this concept as a new paradigm in the field.

Theatre relations between Poland and Germany since the war have developed in a variety of different ways. The reasons for this are to be sought in the association of the two German states with different political power blocs up to 1989, Austria's special status within Europe, and the specific cultural development undergone by Poland within the eastern political system. Also of crucial importance are factors rooted in varying developments in theatre history, e.g. the Polish avant-garde's orientation to the west initiated by Mrozek and Gombrowicz, the traditionally intensive links with Austria, and the worldwide significance accorded to Polish directors and drama theorists in the wake of Grotowski and Kantor. While there have been detailed records of the literary connections between the two countries covering the last 10 years or so, the 1996 conference the present volume stems from was devoted entirely to the identification of specifically theatrical factors providing new insights into the Central European theatre landscape in the second half of the 20th century.

This volume is a response to the growing need for new methodological approaches to the rapidly changing landscape of new forms of performative practices. The authors address a host of contemporary phenomena situated at the crossroads between science and fiction which employ various media and merge live participation with mediated hybrid experiences at both affective and cognitive level. All essays collected here move across disciplinary divisions in order to provide an account of these new tendencies, thus providing food for thought for a wide readership ranging from performative studies to the social sciences, philosophy and cultural studies.

The collection of essays Fictional Realities / Real Fictions. Contemporary Theatre in Search of a New Mimetic Paradigm tackles the problem of fictionality and reality in contemporary theatre practice and playwriting. It approaches this hotly debated issue in a larger context of the theories of theatrical and dramatic mimesis. The volume provides an answer to the most recent developments in performative arts, such as the widespread use of new media technologies, the popularity of site specific productions, and the flourishing of various post-dramatic forms of expression. The phenomena scrutinized in this collection call into question the basic dichotomy between the fictional and the real on which the theory and practice of the Western theatre has been based right from its inception. However, due to their extremely heterogeneous character, they pose a considerable problem for researchers and teachers, who still do not find a widely applicable methodology for the analysis of contemporary performances and texts for the theatre. Fictional Realities / Real Fictions sets the discussion of the onset of new mimetic paradigm in three interrelated contexts: the new perceptual patterns forged by contemporary theatre, the use of media on stage, and the strategies of today's political theatre. The case studies presented here, in spite of their thematic diversity, are subordinated to a single theoretical framework. Thus they turn out extremely useful both for the scholars investigating the problems of contemporary theatre, and students of theatre and drama. Fictional Realities / Real Fictions offers them a rigid methodological scaffolding, supported by a number of illustrative examples from a variety of cultural context and theatre traditions, which gives them an opportunity to extrapolate from the main argument of the volume to their own research.