The Dramaturgy of Devised Theatre: Shared Space

An international symposium for artists working in the field of authored theatre focussing on the concept of theatre as a shared space in which creation is based on mutual dialogue between all the members of the creative team and subsequent dialogue with the audience during the performance itself. The symposium will feature theoreticians and active artists from all areas of theatre and dance and space will be given to artistic and theoretical presentations. Organized by the Prague Quadrennial / Arts Institute – Theatre Institute in cooperation with: Archa Theatre, AMU , KALD DAMU and the Alfred ve dvoře Theatre, 4+4 Days in Motion, Dance Zone.

‘The stage is not so much a sequence as a tangle of diverse intentions. A threading, mirroring, echoing, space. A dramaturgy of knots, collision, tangles.’  (Tim Etchells: Doing Time, PRJ On Dramaturgy, Sept 2009)


Devised Dramaturgy: a Shared Space is an international symposium organized by the Prague Quadrennial in cooperation with some of the major Czech theatre organizations, venues and schools in the Czech Republic with the main aim at creating a platform for makers of devised theatre to map the main issues in the field and ways to talk about their practice, in order to strengthen new discourse in performance and performance space, with contributions from Tim Etchells, Gob Squad and Motus.

Devised theatre is an approach to theatre making where the process and the performance event itself incorporate a strong dialogical element. Devised theatre is a collaborative process where the architecture of the performance, its form, content as well as the roles within the creative team are not defined or fixed from the outset. It is a process of collaborative negotiation that extends to the relationship between the performance and its audience. In the words of Erika Fischer-Lichte, the performance makers ‘relinquish their powerful positions as the performance’s sole creators; they agree to share [..] their authorship and authority with the audience.’ (Fischer-Lichte 2008: p. 50).

With devising we may therefore begin to understand theatre and the performance event as a ‘shared space’, created through continuous improvisation, negotiation, dialogue, and as Tim Etchells suggests, ‘knots, collisions and tangles’. With so many different perspectives and individual interpretations, the creation of coherency and ‘meaning’ becomes a complex and polyphonic process and experience.

So, how is material sourced and generated in devising? How do teams work within the devising process? Devising is the collaborative process of shaping a performance structure and content ‘from scratch’; what are the crucial moments in the process that shape and determine the final performance dramaturgy? What kind of performance dramaturgy invites the audience to author or ‘dramaturg’ the performance?

Sessions will focus on discussions about ‘devising as a way of thinking’ or ‘composition in devising’, as well as presentations of specific examples of devising and collective creation. Sessions will take different shape: pecha kucha presentations, open rehearsals, discussions, as well as presentations of papers.


Accompanying performances:
Rotozaza: Etiquette, April 16 - 22, Prague cafés
Gob Squad: Before Your Very Eyes, 21.-22.4., Archa Theatre