This paper deals with the reversal of the hierarchy between text and performance, which can be traced back to the turn of the 20th century. In particular, two possibilities of how to redefine the relationship between text and performance are explored and discussed. Both these possibilities have played a prominent role in German theatre since the 1970s and are modelled after distinct cultural paradigms, namely the paradigm of sacrificial ritual and the paradigm of play/game. The leading questions of the investigation are: what purpose does it serve to take recourse to these paradigms and how has it affected the performance as well as writing for the theatre?