20th century theatrical heritage : the escape from illusion

In this article the author refers to the escape of illusion in the contemporary theatre as a result of the destruction of the Italian stage historical conventions in the series of the “theatrical revolutions” of the 20th century. The “anti-illusionist theatre models” of the greatest stage artists at the end of 20th century, Robert Wilson, Tadeusz Kantor and Peter Brook, are discussed as the examples of the post-modernist crisis in theatrical representation connected with the logocentric domination of the word and faith in the rational order of things. Th e 20th century “anti-illusionist” theatrical heritage is based not only on signifi cant changes in the language and acknowledged conventions as well as styles, but mainly on the idea of a non-mimetic space of a liberated performance demonstrating “visual musicality” from the “intercultural” perspective.