ABSTRACT
In collaborative theatre-making in the UK, the role of dramaturg is a flexible one, often emerging as a necessary task that falls to someone present in the rehearsal room. The UK-based Dramaturgs’ Network defines the dramaturg as “a member of the creative team dedicated to help[ing] the makers find their own artistic journey through the process to fulfil their artistic vision.” 1 As British dramaturgy has gained a higher profile in the last ten years, its possibilities for collaborative creation have expanded. When Ben Power dramaturged Complicite’s A Disappearing Number (2007), he worked alongside Artistic Director Simon McBurney to structure, devise, and script the production. 2 Synne K. Behrndt’s work as a dramaturg on Fevered Sleep’s An Infinite Line (2008) dealt not only with the text, but also the design and use of space in this site-specific performance. Companies such as Filter Theatre conceive of the dramaturg in ways that suit the project in question, the nature of the role emerging as a reflection of the company’s process. Filter was established in 2001 by Oliver Dimsdale, Ferdy Roberts, and Tim Phillips to create work integrating text, design, projections, and soundscapes, employing a number of practitioners external to the company. In the case of Filter’s first production Faster (2003), the role of dramaturg was shared by scripting writer Stephen Brown, director Guy Retallack, and producer Kate McGrath. To understand how these three dramaturgs emerged, we will separate the process into three stages, focusing on the development of the text: the first stage involving the production team without writers, dramaturged by McGrath; the second stage involving writers Oliver Wilkinson and Dawn King, dramaturged by McGrath and Retallack; and the third stage involving Brown, dramaturged by McGrath, Retallack, and Brown. This paper will analyze how the multiple-dramaturg model facilitated the complex collaborative process used to create Faster, and it will illuminate the possibilities for collaborative dramaturgy that have emerged within the UK in the past decade.
