International
Theatre Conference: Directing and Authorship in Western Drama
Panel
Five
Saturday October 25th, 9-10:30am
Jay Malarcher, West Virginia
U
Abstract: What Good is a Dramaturg?
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I
reject the notion that a director is the good soul
helping the crippled playwright
cross the street. -David Hare
The best
definition of dramaturg that I have ever encountered is "an advocate
for the text." As a director, playwright, and dramaturg, my perspective
involves a multivariate approach, ever mindful of the relationship of
the three job descriptions to the text, the ultimate production, and (most
importantly) the process that gets us from one to the other.
Here, the dramaturg has been a fairly recent job title added to theatre
companies, but in Europe the dramaturg has been an important contributor
to the artistic end of production for many years. Bertolt Brecht, for
example, began his career in theatre as a dramaturg. Oftentimes theatres
couple the job of dramaturg with that of literary manager, since one of
the myriad tasks that dramaturgs may take up involves locating new plays
for production and helping to shape a season. Many directors have not
worked with a dramaturg in production, or have had bad experiences with
dramaturgs who either don't help enough or (which is worse) attempt to
usurp the director's responsibilities and prerogatives. Production dramaturgs,
at their best, can do many of the following and more:
* assemble research for the director;
* instruct the cast in cultural, religious, or philosophical contexts
for the play;
* make suggestions for cuts in texts, if needed;
* assist the director in locating the best (most actable) translation
or adaptation available; or,
* perform the translation her/himself if capable;
* act as liaison between playwright and director in a workshop or
development situation;
* provide another set of "eyes" in selected rehearsals through
notes
to the director;
* write program notes and set up lobby displays to help orient patrons
to issues in the play; and
* engage the audience in talk-back sessions where appropriate.
Where the director deliberately takes the text as his own ("Arthur
Auteur's
Hamlet") little remains for the dramaturg to do. For most directors,
especially those dealing with playwrights they respect enough to trust,
the use of a dramaturg can ease the process and bridge the text through
earnest work and thoughtful contributions. As American comedy writing
legend Larry Gelbart has said, he likes to work with a director who seems
to be talking about the same play he has written, one who "touches
the work without leaving a lot of fingerprints."
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