Metatheatre

Metatheatre is when a play or a movie talks about itself or makes fun of itself, kind of like when you laugh at your own jokes.

Imagine you're watching a play where the actors keep talking about how they're acting in a play. Maybe one of the characters says something like, "I can't believe we're still stuck in this play. When are we going to get off this stage?" That's metatheatre.

It's like a play within a play. The actors are pretending to be characters in the play, but they also know they're actors and that what they're doing is make-believe. So they sometimes talk about the play itself, as if they're watching it from the outside. It's like they're breaking the fourth wall, which is the imaginary wall between the actors and the audience.

Metatheatre can be funny, because it's like the play is winking at you and saying, "Hey, we know this is kind of silly, but we're having fun with it." Or it can be serious, when the play is trying to make a point about itself or about theatre in general.

So basically, metatheatre is when a play or movie is self-aware and talks about itself. It's like if you were playing a game of make-believe, but you kept reminding everyone that it was just a game.