Metatheatre
Theatre that is self-consciously aware of itself as theatre—plays that reference the act of performance, contain plays within plays, or blur the line between fiction and reality. Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream (with its play-within-a-play) and Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author are classic examples. Metatheatre invites audiences to think about the nature of storytelling and performance itself.
