The starting point for this course is the assumption that performance is a concrete social event, which therefore participates in a multi-faceted manner in the power-structures of its surrounding culture. At the same time, performance is always grounded in the body – which is in itself a political site upon which struggles and fantasies are impressed. In light of these social and corporeal dimensions, the course will offer an acquaintance with some of the prominent theories in cultural criticism from the 1970's till the early 2000's  - feminist, queer, post-colonial, and post-secular theories – and explore their relation to theatrical performance. We will focus not only on the ways in which these theories shed light on performance – but also on the images and models borrowed by them from the fields of theatre and drama (mask, mimicry, drag, performance). Finally, we will ask about the place of critical theories today, their heritage, the horizons currently forming for thinking about theatre and culture.