The form of provocation in Thomas Bernhard’s Heroe’s Square

Abstract

In this article I discuss some aspects of the Austrian author Thomas Bernhard’s last play, Heroe’s square, premièred in 1988. The process of writing and staging was marked by the author to cause an intentional scandal. As such, the very concept of the play involves its reception in a very fruitful dialectics between arts and society, resulting in a not merely accidental provocation at the formal level. Thus, the play questions the very conception of art as something organic and self-enclosed, updating the brechtian epic tradition, decisive also for the development of the Brazilian theater, from the 50’s until today.