Editorial

Abstract

Contemporary theater—whether current or unconventional—cannot be excluded from the ongoing debate regarding the "character" as a fundamental element of theatricality. This discussion ranges from the apocalyptic—typified by claims such as "the character is dead"—to the traditional, which strives at all costs to preserve the conventional, "natural" notion of the character: one almost equated with a living person who suffers and endures in public what they experience in private. Regardless of the perspective, addressing the concept of the character becomes an imperative, as it is a construct that transcends the theatrical realm, drawing closer to the actual stage of everyday life and experience.