What is Dramaturgy?  That is indeed the question.  Its meaning seems to have changed a lot over time and depending on who you talk to.  The Dictionary defines it thusly: ‘1. Dramatic composition; the dramatic art. 2. Dramatic or theatrical acting.’  And what a description that is, full nouns of and adjectives, signifying nothing.  It seems to be a general consensus that Dramaturgy is a difficult word to define: ‘few terms in contemporary theatre practice have consistently occasioned more perplexity’.  One of the main problems with trying to define it is that it is such a broad term that can refer to many elements of Drama and performance.  Dramaturgy can refer to from the writing to the final performance.  The collaboration on writing a script, staging the performance, making sure the costumes and settings are accurate, music, lighting, anything you can think of the Dramaturgy can help with, or is it interfere?

There is a big conspiracy that the Dramaturge is a force of disruption, taken well written plays and changing then so that all the fun is removed, making it a simple message that is repeated over and over with no heart, just meaning; at least this is how some people view them within the industry.  This of course is not there job or their intent.  The role would appear to be more of realist or interrupter: ‘The goal of dramaturgy is to resolve the antipathy between the intellectual and the practical in the theatre, fusing the two into an organic whole’ (Leon Katz).  So there job is to help the director, writer, whoever it maybe to realise there image of the play.  Despite it being such a difficult term to summarise the role of a dramaturgy is an important one to help the collaboration between director, actors and writers and trying to find compromises between their egos.

 

My experiences with Dramaturgy:

I often collaborate with people on scripts with is probably where most of my contact with Dramaturgy comes into play.  The other times would be when I’ve worked with a group on a devised piece, both working on lines and the flow of the performance and also on stage direction.

 

Sources uses:

Dramaturgy and Agendas of Charge: Tinderbox and the Joint Sectoral Dramaturgy, Mary Luckhurst (Routledge, 2010)

Dramaturgy in American Theatre, Susan Jonas, Geoff Proehl and Michael Lupu (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1997)

Oxford English Dictionary, 2014 (http://www.oed.com.proxy.library.lincoln.ac.uk/)