Directing and Dramaturgy, 2018

Full Name: Sam Haddow

Annual Conference Theme (if applicable):

What were the main points that emerged from your WG this year?

• Applications of dramaturgy to new forms – intermedial dramaturgy.
• Self-consciousness, awareness of fellow spectators. Difference between privately concerned performance and public consumption.
• ‘Liveness’ of theatrical experiences.
• Endings: how do we end dramaturgical experiences, and why do we end them in this way.
• Presentation and/vs. representation.
• Agency – not always in the physical sense, but an agency of ideas.
• Reception, and the ways in which we conceptualise reception (contra Ranciere, keeping this question nuanced – and the implication this has for us as scholars.)
• Artistic identity – our own practice vs. the practice of others – integrity.
• Questions of direct action and responding to a very bleak broader contextual environment.

What was discussed at your business meeting?

• Do we need a more political and rigorous definition of ‘directing’ and ‘dramaturgy’ to inform the work that we do as scholars and practitioners? (Are there political implications/benefits to solidifying these themes in a climate of increasing funding cuts etc). Certainly to sharpen an awareness.
• Dramaturgy and Directing in the age of Brexit, Arts Cuts etc.
  • Much of what was discussed in this conference referred to industry
• Monsters, Monstrous and Crisis – maybe put ‘monstrous’ as subsection.
  • Breaking apart of one world for the creation of another
  • Brexit metaphors (apocalypse, dystopian fiction etc)
  • Emphasis upon practice as research

Types of contributions:
20 minute papers.

Number of formal contributors (those listed in book of abstracts) 11

Approx. overall number of delegates who attended your WG Sessions 20
Composition of WG (PG, ECR, etc.)
4 PG, 4 ECR, 3 etc.

Did you have any non-UK participants? Yes

If your WG hosted an Open Panel, do you have any feedback?

The open panel went well; it might have been better attended if it was held on the Thursday, as Friday mornings generally see a drop off in attendance, but generally it was good.

Any additional points or feedback not covered above?

We had a notable increase in dropouts amongst delegates – funding is drying up, and people are being put under increasing pressure to perform administrative duties which their institutions prize higher than conference attendance. There isn’t necessarily much we can do about this at the moment, but it’s worth bearing in mind for future conference design.

Otherwise we would like to express our gratitude to the University of Aberystwyth, and to TaPRA, for hosting an excellent conference.