What is contemporary European theatre like? In recent years, it has been sceptically believed that big personalities or grand themes have vanished. There is too much mediocrity and there are no personalities of the 20th century calibre who would have the power to move the theatre forward, to expand its forms and styles and to establish ingenious schools that would create new space for experimenting. And, above all, to shape a theatre responsive to the needs of our time. Modern theatre should also take an active part in a value-based discourse, bring up current themes that reverberate in unison with Man of our time, which is particularly complex and full of conflicts. Society needs such kind of theatre and we have it. The proceedings focuses on the analysis of values represented by contemporary drama and theatre in recent decades and their connection with the newly-conceived values of a society of the late 20th and early 21st centuries. The authors of the papers are trying to define the state of theatre and its capacity to express, through artistic means, the theme of Man and his or her role in modern society, to explore to what extent theatre can fulfil its mission, from social, ethical or philosophical points of view, to be the stage of the world and to mirror Man’s soul.
