Devised theatre
Collaborative creation of theatrical work through ensemble improvisation and physical performance.
Devised theatre, also called collective creation, is a method of theatre-making in which the script or performance score originates from collaborative, often improvisatory work by a performing ensemble. The ensemble typically includes actors but may also involve visual artists, composers, and choreographers, whose contributions can transcend professional specialization. This approach shares principles with commedia dell'arte, street theatre, and improvisational theatre, though in devising, improvisation is usually confined to the creation process, resulting in a fixed or partly fixed form for public presentation.
Quick Facts
- Alternate name
- collective creation
- Related forms
- commedia dell'arte
- street theatre
- improvisational theatre
- physical theatre
- Key training methods
- Viewpoints
- Suzuki method
- Grotowski techniques
- Gardzienice training
- Lecoq technique
- Notable books on process
- The Frantic Assembly Book of Devising Theatre
- The Viewpoints Book
- The Moving Body: Teaching Creative Theatre
- Early facilitators
- Vsevolod Meyerhold
- Evgeny Vakhtangov
- Jacques Copeau
- Michel Saint-Denis
- Reduta
- Erwin Piscator
Facts from the source article.
Devising methods
Devising methods vary widely, as collaborating groups develop distinct methodologies based on the backgrounds and talents of their members. Work creation may begin with an image, a plot, a theme, a character, historical documents, an entire novel, or a single line; a devised work can be text-based or entirely physical, politically engaged or purely aesthetic, a docudrama, melodrama, performative ritual, or fairytale. It may follow a linear narrative or emerge from montage or collage aesthetics, and can even be devoid of live performers. Because methods are often associated with specific companies, training frequently centers on particular directors and companies: for instance, Viewpoints and the Suzuki method of the SITI Company, techniques from Jerzy Grotowski, the physical and vocal training of the Gardzienice Center for Theatre Practices in Poland, and Lecoq technique. A growing body of writing on devising process has emerged from practical research, and theatre programs in the US and England have added devising courses, widening the circulation of techniques. Common approaches include use of improvisation, reliance on physically expressive performance styles, a lengthy development process, and a period of accrual and excess followed by selection, editing, and refining. The creative process may or may not involve a director, who often functions as a facilitator of group creativity at the outset and an outside eye and editor later, and may also involve a writer or writers working alongside the ensemble or collecting material for a script.
History
The history of collaboratively devised performance is as old as theatre, with prototypes in ancient and modern mime, circus arts, clowning, and commedia dell'arte; some cultural traditions have always created performance through predominantly collectivist methods, though the term collective creation has been argued to be inherently eurocentric. Theatre historians have argued that the modern European tradition of collective creation follows the emergence of directing as a profession, unfolding in three overlapping waves: 1900-1945, 1945-1985, and 1985 to the present. Elements of collective devising appear in European directors' work as early as 1905, with early experiments by figures such as Vsevolod Meyerhold and Evgeny Vakhtangov in Russia, Jacques Copeau and the Copiaus, and Michel Saint-Denis and the Compagnie des Quinze in France, Reduta in Poland, and Erwin Piscator in Germany. The 1930s saw a proliferation of collective creation methods, influenced by the labor movement and workers' theatre in the US and Europe; World War II and Cold War politics in capitalist states temporarily halted that flowering.
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