Dramaturgy Explained in 2 Minutes

In Chapter 9 of The Life of a Stage Play we talk to a Dramaturg about the importance of research and intention.
Watch the full show • The Life of a Stage Play
Links and more resources at
thelifeofastageplay.com/

[@lauripotter3247]

Thank you! I am teaching this to 7th graders and your explanation is perfect!

[@PhilipWels]

That is so awesome! I'm glad this was able to help out. :D

[@patrickjunior.1613]

How can I use dramaturge role to review a fictional script?

[@PhilipWels]

Hey! This is a great question. I actually reached out to Maren with this question. I'll pass along her response: "In my opinion, when it comes to a fictional script, something that is not at all based on historical events, you can focus on emotional context. In that setting, a dramaturg becomes sort of a literary analyst and dives into the background of the playwright and context under which the play was written. The dramaturg becomes sort of a speaker on behalf of the playwright in some cases, making sure that the intentions of the playwright are being honoured in conjunction with the director’s concept. That can go too far, though, and a dramaturg definitely has to be discerning when it comes to where to guide and where to defer to the director’s concept. An example of how a dramaturg would work with a fictional script would be with something like Levelling Up or Night, Mother. Both scripts are not based on specific historical events or people, but deal with very specific concepts or communities. A dramaturg for Levelling Up would definitely want to do lots of research on the gaming community and culture, since that is so highly specific. A dramaturg for Night, Mother could definitely do research on suicide statistics and look into the stories from family members of suicide victims. Both of those things highly contextualize the stories without being strictly historical research."

[@patrickjunior.1613]

@@PhilipWels Thanks. I’ll also like more examples. I’m being tasked to dramaturge a play, which is entirely fictional, and I’m having a hard time getting it

[@PhilipWels]

@@patrickjunior.1613 It definitely can be more of a challenge when working with a fictional play, but the word to keep in mind is really "context." And this could be the context surrounding the writing and creation of the play. Who wrote it? When did they write it? Why did they write it? (Were other people writing similar plays at the same time?) Is there a moral to the play or is it meant for entertainment or escapism? Was this play published before? Has it been performed before? (If so, what did the audience think? Did the director or author or cast have comments about their performance?) Even though the play may be completely fictional, the play is portraying an experience (or experiences) of characters for an audience to participate in. So another thing you could look into is the situations being portrayed in the play. What are these experiences? What should the audience take away from these experiences? (Depending on the play some of this could come from interviewing the playwright, but it could also come from talking to the director, or even the actors.) If there are specific situations you could possibly even talk to people who have been through those situations in real life, and see how their experiences compare to what is being portrayed on stage. This would kind of tie into the cultural/community aspect of what Maren was saying. If the situations are more straightforward, you might talk about why it's important or beneficial to consider them or why it's important to highlight them. If it's more abstract, then the role of the dramaturg is to help explain the situation, both for the cast and the audience. Hopefully this helps, but please let me know if you have more questions or need more information!

[@patrickjunior.1613]

@@PhilipWels thank you so much. I’ll get across if I need more help.

[@Upash09]

I’m here from dbd