番茄社区

We are interested in the relationship between directing and dramaturgy. We explore how ideas linked to these activities may apply beyond Theatre, Film and Television.

Our research considers questions such as:

• How can we discuss the dramaturgy of music?
• How does the role of the director relate to that of the choreographer?
• Can dramaturgical approaches help us understand and potentially subvert cultural and historical grand narratives?
• What can the hierarchical structures linked to directing tell us about democracy and personal agency?

The group’s current research activity covers three broad areas.

Translation and adaptation

• The adaptation of poetry for stage, film, visual, and musical forms
• The creative and adaptive processes used by artists in these disciplines
• The relationship between choreography, sign languages, and music when creating work based on a theatrical text
• Ekphrasis as a method of adaptation
• The relocation of classical Greek plays into contemporary contexts
• Poetry and theatre translation, particularly in German, Italian, Francophone, and Lusophone theatres and contexts
• The process of adapting, translating, or devising work from text to stage
• The relationship between physicality and text
• Industry practices for commissioning and staging theatre translations
• The translation and production history of non-Anglophone plays in Britain
• The ability of shows to "travel"
• Processes of domestication and foreignisation in performance.

Narrative structures and dramatic form

• The effect of performance techniques and practices on compositional, dramaturgical, and directorial approaches
• Drama writing for theatre and film, particularly Meta-Theatre, Post-war British Theatre Writers, and Extreme Theatre and Cinema
• Dramatic narrative structure and the relationship between form and content
• Alternative story structures in scriptwriting
• The development of dramatic form through multi-modal experimentation
• Narrative expectations among audiences and spectators
• Intuitive and analytical systems for understanding and articulating the world
• The ways in which theatre makers use audience expectations.

Politics, ethics and intersubjectivity

• The subversion and reappropriation of female roles in writing and performance
• Working with people in applied settings
• Creating work in an Applied context
• The boundaries between research and appropriation
• The ethical implications of using verbatim and documentary material
• The Carnivalesque element in performance
• Representations of hunger in poetry and theatre
• The dramaturgy of solo work
• The ways in which performers manage their relationship with the audience.

Our methodological interests include practice as research, archival-historiographic practices, and quantitative research.

For more information or to get in touch with us please email Mr Pedro de Senna and Ian Saville.