@article{ART003330833},
author={Jungman Park},
title={Theater Without Actors: Trends from the Early Cases to the New Millennium and Their Implications in the Current Context},
journal={Journal of Modern English Drama},
issn={1226-3397},
year={2026},
volume={39},
number={1},
pages={85-106}
TY - JOUR
AU - Jungman Park
TI - Theater Without Actors: Trends from the Early Cases to the New Millennium and Their Implications in the Current Context
JO - Journal of Modern English Drama
PY - 2026
VL - 39
IS - 1
PB - 한국현대영미드라마학회
SP - 85
EP - 106
SN - 1226-3397
AB - Peter Brook, in The Empty Space (1968), defines theater as ‘someone stepping into a space while another watches.’ This is a brief but insightful observation regarding the three elements of theater: the stage, the audience, and the actor. Meanwhile, many theater artists subsequently challenged Brook’s definition of theater. In 1969, the year following the publication of The Empty Space, Samuel Beckett presented a play without ‘someone stepping onto the stage’ in his 35-second ultra-minimalist play Breath. It practiced the possibility of theater excluding actors. This signaled the beginning of so-called ‘theatre without actors,’ and similar experiments followed. A representative recent example of the new millennium era is German composer Heiner Goebbels’ installation work Stifter’s Things (2008) which stages five pianos without a pianist. More recently Irish playwright Enda Walsh’s installation work Rooms (2019)presents rooms filled only with recorded voices, devoid of any inhabitants. Furthermore, although somewhat different in nature, Eugène Ionesco already explored the concept of ‘theatre without actors’ as early as 1950 in his anti-play The Bald Soprano which features a title character/actor who did not appear on stage and was consequently irrelevant to the plot’s development. This study traces the early aspects of the concept and practice of ‘theater without actors’ experimented with by the aforementioned drama, theater, and performance artists, as well as trends in the new millennium era, through representative examples, and examines the implications of these developments within the context of the current theater environment. Furthermore, based on these results, it seeks to reconsider the insights into the definition of theater and its essential elements—defined as the stage, actors, and audience— reaffirmed by Peter Brook.
KW - theatre without actors;Breaths;The Bald Soprano;Stifter’s Things;Rooms
DO -
UR -
ER -
Jungman Park. (2026). Theater Without Actors: Trends from the Early Cases to the New Millennium and Their Implications in the Current Context. Journal of Modern English Drama, 39(1), 85-106.
Jungman Park. 2026, "Theater Without Actors: Trends from the Early Cases to the New Millennium and Their Implications in the Current Context", Journal of Modern English Drama, vol.39, no.1 pp.85-106.
Jungman Park "Theater Without Actors: Trends from the Early Cases to the New Millennium and Their Implications in the Current Context" Journal of Modern English Drama 39.1 pp.85-106 (2026) : 85.
Jungman Park. Theater Without Actors: Trends from the Early Cases to the New Millennium and Their Implications in the Current Context. 2026; 39(1), 85-106.
Jungman Park. "Theater Without Actors: Trends from the Early Cases to the New Millennium and Their Implications in the Current Context" Journal of Modern English Drama 39, no.1 (2026) : 85-106.
Jungman Park. Theater Without Actors: Trends from the Early Cases to the New Millennium and Their Implications in the Current Context. Journal of Modern English Drama, 39(1), 85-106.
Jungman Park. Theater Without Actors: Trends from the Early Cases to the New Millennium and Their Implications in the Current Context. Journal of Modern English Drama. 2026; 39(1) 85-106.
Jungman Park. Theater Without Actors: Trends from the Early Cases to the New Millennium and Their Implications in the Current Context. 2026; 39(1), 85-106.
Jungman Park. "Theater Without Actors: Trends from the Early Cases to the New Millennium and Their Implications in the Current Context" Journal of Modern English Drama 39, no.1 (2026) : 85-106.
