Traditions of avant-garde shown in the performances by Christoph Marthaler

The purpose of this paper was examining the way traditions and forms of avant-garde in dramatic art, in particular Expressionism and Dada, as well as elements typical of the Theater of the Absurd, have manifested themselves in the work pieces by the contemporary stage director from Switzerland Christoph Marthaler. The paper carried out a theater expert review of Christoph Marthaler’s performances of the Swiss period, as «Stägeli uf, Stägeli ab, juhee!», «Indeed», «Faust. Ein subjektive Tragödie», «ХХ Century’ Blues», that enabled the spectator’s judging from the creative personality of Marthaler, his outlook on the world and reflection of various issues of time. These performances were also considered to be of the most successful Marthaler’ performances in Switzerland having fully traced his unique stage director’ style. The study revealed the mainstream topic of each performance, which consisted of director’s reflections about loneliness of a contemporary human being, and reference to avant-garde’ forms converted these reflections into the stage play.