The Irish Times - Tue, Oct 08, 2013: The word “dramaturg” is not universally popular among the playwrights of Ireland. I was in a reading with one of my favourite writers, who gave out splendidly about the uselessness of the “dramaturkey”. He then paused and said, “I don’t mean you, Gav.” It was a moment of quiet pride.
Writing a play, like the creation of many artworks, has been compared to giving birth to a baby. I have seen my wife give birth twice; the two things are not comparable.
5 comments:
I opened this article ready to learn some eye-opening news, but instead I was greeted by an ode to a playwright named Sean - an unexpected turn of events, but an interesting one nonetheless. It is definitely true that dramaturges facilitate a play's blossoming, but the playwright is the one who makes the bud first appear. I had never before put much thought into the contrast between "the state of the nation" versus "this is how things are" in the world of a play. Keeping the author's voice from tainting the characters' is also important, the way that no one can tell just from reading his plays how he feels about the world, what his views are. That is true writing talent, and the dramaturg did his job well in recognizing that.
Similarly to Emma, I expected this article to be a lot more factual. With that said, I do think the article was effective in describing the role a dramaturg plays in the making of a play or a production. The comparison of raising a child and creating a play is brilliant and, although I have never raised a child, I imagine that this is somewhat true. Like a parent raising a child, a dramaturg must adapt and adjust their emotions and intentions based on what is best for the play (or child.) This raises the question, "How do we know what is best for the play?" In addition, who determines what is best for the play in the first place? A parent often determines what is best for their child. So, does a dramaturg determine what is best for the play, or is this the playwright's job? Either way, I think the role of the dramaturg is a very important role in producing a successful play.
Similarly to the way that Emma and Jess reacted when they first read this article, I was surprised by the content of the article, but it definitely is effective in describing the role of a dramaturg in the creation and execution of a play. Currently working with Rachel Abrahms on a project, I can attest to the fact that having a dramaturg in the process is absolutely amazing. She has been one of the most helpful, informative, and curious people I have worked with. Dramaturg's become extremely helpful in a production when they do what Rachel is doing: asking all the questions that are unanswered. I think it is interesting how this article poses the question, "Who knows what is best for a play and how do we accomplish this?" Who should be the person to determine what is the best thing for the play? Is the job the responsibility of the dramaturg, or the playwright? I feel as though the playwright is the one who ultimately know what they want the play to say, but the dramaturg can tell the playwright if that is actually coming across or not. Overall, dramaturgs seem to be crucial in the making/presenting of a play.
The way a playwright see a play to be a child is very accurate in my mind. I think playwright do have all these hopes and dreams of how this play is to be preformed and how it is going to be received. I think that many playwrights at one point or another have thought about directing their own play. I Think that playwrights put so much time and effort in creating the script that they want to be there for the end. They want to make sure their play succeeds. To build off of the metaphor of plays being children though, It comes a time when you have done all you can for a play and should just let go and trust that what you did for the play will make it succeed on it's own. I think this is a very hard thing to do, with both children and works of art however, art has an unique ability to be learned from and try again. This can be repeated over and over again.
At home and on Spring right now, I often receive the question: what classes are you taking this semester? One of my first answers will always be “Foundations of Drama…I’m doing dramaturgy.” Almost 90% of the time, the person I am talking to will have no idea what dramaturgy is; I take advantage of this as a time to explain one of the most important factors that goes into the creation of a show. Dramaturgy makes the world of the play come alive. Though it is a lot of work researching every aspect of the time period, down to a catchphrase that might not have meaning anymore, I believe it is very necessary if an actor wants to live fully in the play. We’ve often discussed in class how the role of a dramaturg may vary based on the director’s vision of the process. This article gave me an insight into what these different levels of involvement might look like. With one piece, for example, he left the actor and director alone to choreograph the whole summer, and only gave his notes when it was virtually finished. With another, he worked intricately with the team throughout the process, offering up passages of the script they might consider changing.
54101A, Andrew Smith Acting I, Kate Rosenberg
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