The Dramaturgs’ Network Inaugural Symposium
REPORT FROM THE NETWORK’S INAUGURAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE 18th OF MARCH AT THE ALBERY THEATRE
by David Lane
Welcome to the first Dramaturgs Network newsletter. As many of you know, our first symposium was held recently at the Albery Theatre in London, attended by a wide range of professional representatives from theatres and creative organisations from London and beyond. The symposium was intended to be not only a forum for a debate concerning the dramaturg’s role in the theatre making process but also a chance for the Network to receive constructive feedback from our future collaborators and members. It was a rare opportunity to gather dramaturgs, academics, directors, writers and literary managers together to share their opinions on dramaturgy in an intellectually stimulating environment.
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Looking and listening with knowledge
“Looking and Listening with Knowledge”
by John Keefe
This is a revised version of a paper originally published in “state of Mime”, Summer 1995, European Mime Federation.
I envisage this paper as part of a dialogue: with Marianne van Kerkhoven’s original piece (see after word), and with those who are now about to read it as an exchange of responses and observations.
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Exploring the text
EXPLORING THE TEXT
by David Lane and Mavis Howard
Two months ago the Network was invited by Context Theatre to contribute to the development of new work dealing with issues of asylum, exile and displacement. Context Theatre are a company in development that seek to promote the social relevance of theatre as the essence of their work, investigating new ways to mediate and contextualise theatre through all elements of its structure and holding a dramaturgical perspective at the centre of their practice.
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TABSLABS
Theatre and Beyond’s TABSLABS
by David Lane
Dramaturg
Theatre and Beyond are one of the South East’s leading new writing theatre companies. In September last year they launched their second series of TABLABS, designed to seek out the best new writers in a region where opportunities for development and production of new writing are often limited. With bases in Maidstone, Hastings, Walton-on-Thames and finally in Brighton, the TAB team took on a total of sixteen new writers in an effort to develop innovative and exciting work. Project dramaturg David Lane offers this reflection on the dramaturgical processes at work.
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Dramaturgies, the Writer, the Audience; A panel session at Writers Expo
Dramaturgies, the Writer, the Audience
A panel session at Writers Expo, November 2002
by john Keefe
I want to come at the many issues and ideas already in the air from a structural perspective; a structural model for, initially, theatre which sets the ground for the dramaturg’s role.
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The dramaturg past and present
Here is a short etymology of the word and how we in the dramaturgs’network and others define the word and role today.
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Reporting from the In-Yer-Face conference
In-Yer-Face conference, a dramaturg’s view
by Hanna Slättne
In September 2002 the University of the West of England hosted a conference on British drama in the 1990’s, named after Aleks Siertz’s book ‘In-Yer –Face Theatre’ (2001). I only attended the second day of the conference[1] in Bristol, but after studying Abigail Gonda’s response to both days in Writernet’s newsletter, I have found my observations to be very similar.
The conference delegate kept returning to problems with the category of ‘In-yer-face’ theatre, a term coined in the 90’s to describe a wave of new writing dealing with contemporary society. Writing in what Siertz sees as a post-ideological society this theatre is experiential and emotive, adopting a confrontational and violent style to explore the zeitgeist. Problems arise from Siertz’s study as it focuses on only a few of these playwrights and new writing development in the 1990’s, to the exclusion and marginalisation of other writing.
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Interview with Duska Radosavljevic
Interview with Duska Radosavljevic
Dramturg at Northern Stage
by Marina Burton
MB: What inspired you to become a dramaturg?
DR: Even though I had strong interests in performance and directing to begin with, I gradually discovered during my first degree
in Theatre Studies and Communication Arts that my particular skill lay in the analysis of verbal and non-verbal texts.
I was far more interested in the process rather than the product and by the time I had to choose my final year project,
it ended up being in playwriting and the dramaturgy of theatre translation. In effect I gradually went back
to the source of the creative process in theatre – the blueprint for performance. This was reversed once again when
on completion of my first degree, by coincidence of circumstances I became a theatre reviewer – which is anyway a constituent
part of the dramaturg’s practice in the rest of Europe.
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Work in Progress Dramaturgy Festival at Newcastle Playhouse
Work in Progress Dramaturgy Festival at Newcastle Playhouse.
by Hanna Slättne
Freelance Dramaturg
- Inspiring and daunting.
Two years ago Newcastle Playhouse employed a resident dramaturg: Duska Radosavljevic. Partly in response to questions of what a dramaturg does Duska and Claire Malcolm of New Writing North staged a pioneering festival exploring dramaturgy as a craft in the autumn of 2003 at the Playhouse. It was a brave and ambitious project realised through a joint effort between Northern Stage, Newcastle University and New Writing North setting out to explore work processes in developing new writing involving a dramaturg. The four-week project consisted of three weeklong workshops developing 3 plays by authors associated with Newcastle Playhouse and New Writing North. Present in the room were actors, a director, the writer(s) and a dramaturg. In the fourth week the work was presented either in the form of a reading or a discussion on the process to an audience. The festival also included dramaturg-led workshops for writers on verbatim theatre and on exploring non - dramatic writing for the stage.
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The practice of a dramaturg in Germany
THE PRACTICE OF A DRAMATURG IN GERMANY
by Elyssa Livergant
On 14 May 2004 the Dramaturg’s Network hosted Anneli Klostermeier, a dramaturg from Germany. This occasion was part of the ongoing professional development activities held by the network. Anneli reflected on her practice as a dramaturg working in regional theatre in Germany and shared her ideas about the role of the dramaturg. Her lecture was followed by Q & A and discussion.
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Structures in devising
STRUCTURES IN DEVISING
by Frauke Franz and Synne Behrndt
On the 18th October 2003 the Dramaturgs’ Network held a Debate Forum on devised theatre dramaturgy at the BAC. The initial aims of the forum were to open up a debate about the need for a critical language (exemplified by dramaturgy) in making and evaluating devised performance in order to create stronger performance outcomes, and to discuss ways of working and approaches to collaboration and devising.
It was an open Forum exploring ways of working within devising framed by presentations of and discussion about collaborations between dramaturgs and directors. The real success and achievement of the (sold out!) event was that it created a platform for practitioners and audiences to discuss processes and practice.
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Dramaturgy in Scotland
Dramaturgy in Scotland:
A Peculiar Case of
Queen Margaret University College, Edinburgh
by Dr Ksenija Horvat, Specialist Tutor in Dramaturgy,
QMUC, Edinburgh
A year ago a fourth year dramaturgy student at QMUC contacted a well-known Scottish arts journalist asking him to comment on the position of dramaturgs in Scotland. The latter was reluctant to give any comment other than that one should not impose upon Scottish theatre what had not grown organically from it. I am reluctant to agree with this point.
To say that dramaturgy as a profession is alien to Scottish theatre is a misconception. A number of talented dramaturgs have worked in Scottish theatre in the past (albeit under different titles), such as Ella Wildridge who has worked extensively with different theatres including Royal Lyceum Theatre and Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh and Cottesloe Theatre in London.
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Playgrounding A New Writing Scheme by the Polka Theatre
Playgrounding
A New Writing Scheme by the Polka Theatre
By Frauke Franz, dramaturg
New writing is one of the core areas at the heart of the Polka Theatre’s artistic policy. Playgrounding is their year-long scheme to develop new plays by new writers or writers new to children’s theatre. I was appointed as the dramaturg and project co-ordinator at the beginning of the scheme in 2003.
It is my first job in children’s theatre since coming from the background of a dramaturgy education in Germany and having worked mainly with devising theatre companies in England. What attracted me to the job was the very open and refreshing approach to developing new writing by the then new Artistic Director, Annie Wood and the Associate Director of New Writing, Richard Shannon.
Our common vision was to open the theatre to new ways of working, a place to experiment. We wanted to give the writers a chance to experience the theatrical process during the writing process, to embrace physicality and visual images.
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Building a Rough House
Building a Rough House
Nightswimming’s creation process
By Brian Quirt, Artistic Director of Nightswimming
Nightswimming is a Toronto-based dramaturgical company that commissions and develops new works of theatre and dance, but does not produce those works. All of our resources go toward the creation of the best possible development process for each project, and to the exploration and improvement of dramaturgical process in general.
[Editors note: Please see the article and transcript of the discussion “New Writing; how do we develop new plays?” in the winter issue of the network newsletter for a full description of Nightswimming.]
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o, dramaturgy!
o, dramaturgy!
by Phil Smith, playwright
Be careful when you open your mouth between rehearsals - you may end up writing articles on the end of your rhetoric. Suspect all motives, all opinions.
Expressing such things can be fatal to your economics – you never know who’s listening and people can go off you. It’s not personal. It’s business. But this is about craft. An anachronism, I know.
What follows is an ill-advised gloss on a few premeditated comments about being a dramaturg, which occasionally I am – more an activity than an identity.
Posted by Hanna at 03:54 PM in Articles | Comments (0) |
