‘As there is no one way to create theatre, there is no single model of the Dramaturg’
What is Dramaturgy?
For one reason or another I used to think that dramaturgy was purely the context of the play, which Adam Versényi proves that I only knew one aspect as dramaturgy ‘must include knowledge of the distinctions between periods, movements, or styles’ (2003, p. 386). The art of making sure thinks are accurate in terms of theme, setting and all the other aspects of a performance. Yet when looking up the Word Dramaturgy in the Oxford English dictionary, I was faced with the following definition:
Dramaturgy: [mass noun] the theory and practice of dramatic composition.
So I loosely had the theory part of it right, but it was the practise that I had never really heard of. Versényi outlines that dramaturgy is ‘the study of how meaning is generated in drama and performance’ (2003, p.386). This gives dramaturgy a more grounded place but still keeping with the dramatic composition side of things. The composition of a piece is important to the desired intention because you want an audience to feel certain emotions at certain points which all put together, in the correct order, will deliver the desired response. This is how themes and plots can be conveyed clearer and more accurately.
The Role of the Dramaturg
So what does a dramaturg do? As stated before a dramaturg must have a vested interest in the themes, resonances and context of the plays in which he or she deals with. Dramaturgs act as an emulsifier between the playwright, directors and other creative to ensure the performance has a clear direction and that it is stuck to. This may include pointing ‘out consequences of the choices that a playwright makes’ (Copelin, p.18), or following from what was discussed before ‘suggest alternative structure, the rearrangements of scenes, the dramatic need for more or fewer characters’ (Copelin, p.18). Despite this involvement in the process, it is important that the dramaturg keeps ‘distance from the process in order to be able to ask questions about it’ (Bozic, 2009). This ultimately helps with the original intentions and threads outline at the beginning, but if too much distance is kept the dramaturg can become an onlooker and somewhat obsolete to the process.
The Emergence of Dramaturgy
Mary Luckhurst, in Dramaturgy: A Revolution in Theatre, begins to investigate the origin of the word, which all reflect its root comes from making and/or doing dramatic art. A dramaturg may not necessarily mean this today but they are certainly influencing both practises. Furthermore, Dramaturgy only officially arrived in the UK in 1963 when Kenneth Tynan became the Literary Manager of Laurence Olivier’s (Artistic Director) new National Theatre. This was centuries after countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and the Scandinavian countries had started regarding Dramaturgs as the ‘lynchpin of mainstream, state funded theatre’ (Luckhurst, 2006, p.1). Since then play readers, advisers and critical and practical experts have been ‘accepted as an integral part to theatre-making’ (Luckhurst, 2006, p.1).
Challenges of the Dramaturg
Despite many not actually knowing what one is for, or how they help any process, the strife of a dramaturg does not end there. Although claiming to be ‘connoisseurs of text, staging, production values, acting choices, a play’s philosophy and its place in its artistic context’ (Copelin, p.22) dramaturgs can often find themselves being shunned by others in the creative process. Directors, producers and even sometimes actors take it upon themselves to perform the previously stated tasks making the role of the dramaturg redundant as all necessary dramaturgy has been outsourced.
Another issue dramaturgs have faced is the hostility by the American and British theatres as egos in a process cannot relinquish that control. The playwrights and the directors do not want other people judging their work as they have enough of that from each other. In addition to that, especially in America, dramaturgs are seen to make things too theatrical. We learn from Sanford Meisner and Lee Strasbourg the key of acting stems from the self and the emotion of being human as oppose to acting at all, but it is believed that the dramaturgs need to make pieces commercially viable and theatrically sound. They may have a slightly stepped back approached now, but the origin of the dramaturg does lead back to theatricality.
As theatre is become more diluted, dramaturgs, especially theatre ones, are becoming harder to use effectively. Dance, technology and the escapists from theatre have left the needs for expertise and knowledge in a grand amount of areas. Companies are now turning to choreographers, technicians and other experts to collaborate with to make the use of the aspects being introduce to theatres.
Me and Dramaturgy
Over the summer I wrote, directed, produced and marketed my own show to go up to the Edinburgh fringe festival. So I gained experience in both side of being a dramaturg, both the production side and the business side. During this period I had to figure what would sell tickets and make a stamp at the Edinburgh fringe as well as staying close to the threads I set out for the piece at the beginning. If financial capabilities were larger I would definitely use a dramaturg as they can cover a lot of things as well as holding everything and, possibly more important, everyone together.
Works Cited
Bozic, A. (2009) On Dramaturgy – Statement. Performance Research 14 (3) 12.
Copelin, B. (1995) Ten Dramaturgical Myths. In Bert Cardullo (ed.) What is Dramaturgy? New York: Peter Lang, 17-34.
Luckhurst, M. (2006) Dramaturgy: a Revolution in Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
National Theatre (2014) Kenneth Tynan. [online] London: National Theatre. Available from http://www.nationaltheatre.org.uk/discover-more/welcome-to-the-national-theatre/the-history-of-the-national-theatre/kenneth-tynan [Accessed 20 September 2014].
Versényi, A. (2003) Dramaturgy/Dramaturg. In Dennis Kennedy (ed.) The Oxford Encyclopedia of Theatre and Performance. New York: Oxford University Press, 386-389.