Dramaturgy on the Edge: A Dialogue Between Australia and Northern Ireland
Friday 2nd July 2010, 2- 5pm
Brian Friel Theatre, Drama and Film Centre, Queen’s University Belfast
The discussion will be chaired by Professor Mary Luckhurst, playwright, director, dramaturg and academic.
Speakers:
- Dr Peter Eckersall, Associate Professor in Theatre Studies, The University of Melbourne and dramaturg with not yet it’s difficult performance company.
- Hanna Slattne, dramaturg with Tinderbox Theatre Company, Belfast and founder member of UK Dramaturgs’ Network.
- Dr Duška Radosavljević, dramaturg, theatre critic and academic based at the University of Kent.
This round table discussion aims to initiate a dialogue about dramaturgical practices in Northern Ireland/UK and Australia, and between dramaturgical theory and practice. Peter Eckersall will talk about the Melbourne-based Dramaturgies Project and Hanna Slattne will outline the Northern Irish Joint Sectoral Dramaturgy Project. Hanna will also give a demonstration of her practice with the Tinderbox Writers’ Lab.
For more information or to register interest in the event, please contact Dr Alyson Campbell a.e.campbell@qub.ac.uk or Hanna Slattne hanna.slattne@tinderbox.org.uk
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The Dramaturgies Project is a research and development laboratory, established in Melbourne in 2001 by Peter Eckersall, Melanie Beddie and Paul Monaghan. It aims to explore, reflect on and give rise to dramaturgical practice in – and as a basis for – making innovative performance in Australian theatre. The recent Dramaturgies # 4 in Melbourne brought together international and Australian practitioners and academics to take stock of shifting theatrical forms in the twenty-first century; recognise existing dramaturgical paradigms and find ways to move beyond them; be a ‘national audit’ of dramaturgical practices in and for the sector; develop new ideas, new skills and recommendations for the future development of dramaturgical practices that lie at the centre of an innovative Australian theatre into the future.
For five years Tinderbox has managed, developed and administered the Northern Ireland Arts Council’s Joint Sectoral Dramaturgy fund. This fund is available to companies to do development work prior to rehearsals in order to test ideas, text and performance style. It is a unique project and has been very successful in disseminating dramaturgical exploration and processes of working within the theatre sector in Northern Ireland. Through the JSDP Hanna has worked with many of Northern Ireland’s companies on numerous projects as well as leading the extensive dramaturgy strand at Tinderbox Theatre Company. She is also a founder member of the Dramaturgs’ Network, an organisation with an aim to support practitioners, provide professional development and be an advocate for dramaturgical practice.
Professor Mary Luckhurst is a world authority on dramaturgy and the politics of selecting plays for theatre repertoires, and author of Dramaturgy: A Revolution in Theatre. She is co-founder of the new Department of Theatre, Film and TV at the University of York. She has written over 15 plays for performance which have been staged across Europe. In 2002 she founded Out of the Blue theatre company with Mike Cordner. She specialises in contemporary texts and has directed notable productions of work by Martin Crimp and Harold Pinter.
Dr Duška Radosavljević is a dramaturg, theatre critic and academic based at the University of Kent. She has worked at Northern Stage in Newcastle and at the Royal Shakespeare Company, and has an ongoing collaboration with Hanna Slattne and Tinderbox Theatre Company.
This is an event organised by Drama at Queen’s University Belfast, in collaboration with the IFTR working group Translation, Adaptation and Dramaturgy. It is the first of two dramaturgy events at Queen’s University: the next will be an international conference 18 – 20 April 2011, on Translation, Performance, and Dramaturgy. This will be run with the AHRC funded Out of the Wings project.
