ABSTRACT
In Stages and Screens Janis Jefferies and Leo Warner discuss the impact of Katie Mitchell’s work on British theatre. They explore Mitchell’s theatre aesthetics, the selection of literary fragments from a source text, the role of the rehearsal space as a series of laboratory experiments, the dynamics of company collaboration and Warner’s innovative methods of feature film–like cinematic close-ups on the stage. Warner, who has been Mitchell’s Director of Photography on a series of Live Cinema works beginning with Waves (National Theatre, 2006), reflects on the careful craft choices and processes of this work, and the ways in which the meeting of stage and screen opens up new perceptual modes. He discusses a range of work including Wunschkonzert (Schauspiel Köln, 2008), After Dido (ENO/Young Vic, 2009), Fräulein Julie (Schaubühne Berlin, 2010), Reise durch die Nacht (Schauspiel Köln, 2012) and The Forbidden Zone (Salzburg Festival, 2014), reflecting on the significance of creating this work in Europe – especially Germany – and the renewed appetite for Mitchell’s theatre in the UK. Warner also reveals how technology and terminology struggle to keep pace with the work, and its unique forms of collaborative labour, as it has evolved.
