Dramaturg : Dramaturgy - Towards a Definition
Provocations for a discussion
John Keefe shares his thoughts with us on the subject. Read on and join the debate on our Facebook site. We’d love to hear your definition and/or opinion on this.
To begin: an indication of the multiplicity of responses to the two terms ranging from the abstract to the technical….
Dramaturgy: from ‘text’ – a weaving together; from ‘drama-ergon’ – the work of the actions; thus, that which concerns the weave of the performance, (see Eugenio Barba & Nicola Savarese, A Dictionary of Theatre Anthropology, 1991).
Dramaturgy is the dialogic relationship between subject matter and its theatrical framing; content and form, (see Norman Frisch, Theatrerschrift 5-6, 1994).
Dramaturgy is the concern with composition, structure, staging and audience from literary analysis and historiography, (see Gotthold Lessing, Hamburg Dramaturgy, 1767-69).
Dramaturgy: not only the subject but also the object is constantly moving; dramaturgy is movement itself, a process, (see Marianne van Kerkhoven, Performance Research 14:3, 2009).
Dramaturgy: the wooden walls of small drawers with brass handles in the hardware stores of my childhood; the dramaturg opens each drawer to reveal new objects of indeterminate but indispensible use, (see John Keefe, State of Mime, Summer 1995).
Dramaturg: a literary reader-editor concerned with playscripts, (see A Dictionary of Theatre, Penguin).
Dramaturg: one who assists the traffic between stage and auditorium through the conceptual preparation of a production in its political, historical, aesthetic and formal aspects, (see Bertolt Brecht, The Messingkauf Dialogues, 1939-55; The Journals, 1934-55).
Dramaturg(e): one who is responsible for research and the development of plays, (see Wikipedia).
Dramaturg(e): a researcher and intellectual ‘go-fer’ who acts as the artistic conscience for the theatre, (see Bert Cardullo, What is dramaturgy, 1995).
See also:
Dramaturgy and Performance, Cathy Turner and Synne Behrndt, 2008.
Dramaturgy: a revolution in theatre, Mary Luckhurst, 2006.
‘A spectatorial dramaturgy, or the spectator enters the (ethical) frame’, John Keefe, Performing Ethos, 2010.
So trying to bring these and other suggestions and definitions together:
Dramaturgy – as theatre science, a rigorous, analytical and sensitive approach to theatre practice and discourse (the play-text and stage-text), bridging the tension and ‘agon’ between the conceptual and the practical as the two (Janus) faces of theatre.
Dramaturg – as theatre scientist, one who looks and listens with knowledge, insight, rigor, sensitivity and open-mindedness helping to create the play-text with writer and director and/or the stage text with the production ensemble for presenting to a theatre ensemble (performance and audience). The function may be performed to a lesser or greater degree by members of the production ensemble, by other theatre or curatorial professionals, by education professionals whereby their contributory role is acknowledged as such.
The spectator is, of course, his/her own dramaturg by nature of their presence and engagement.
It would appear that aside from the literary manager-reader route, there is no one definition that captures both the technical role-function and the open contribution of the dramaturg per se. We may be able to speak rather of ‘dramaturgical acts’ that are woven into the processes of the drama-script and the performance text.
Posted by Katalin at 09:57 AM in Dramaturgy
