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University of Kent / ARTS STUDIO STAFF PROFILE DUS˘KA RADOSAVLJEVIĆ Dus˘ka Radosavljević joined Kent in 2008, having worked as a dramaturg for the Northern Stage Ensemble and Newcastle University, and as a Higher Education Programme Manager at the Royal Shakespeare Company. She also works as a theatre critic, writing regularly for The Stage newspaper. Here she discusses dramaturgy and how it influences her teaching. Can you explain what a dramaturg is? In European theatre, the work of a dramaturg is well established, but it is quite a new concept in the UK. It’s about being responsive to how a piece of work as a whole communicates to its audience; you work with writers and directors, dancers and other performers, as well as lighting and set designers to tease out meanings and the best ways to communicate these to the audience. In the past, I have defined it as being an in-house agony aunt; someone employed by the theatre to be an ‘outside eye’. How did you get into this work? My PhD centred on how plays are constructed and how this can have political effects. I have also done a lot of work translating and adapting plays, a process that I find fascinating. There is an assumption, which to some extent is true, that what you can say in one language you can say in another. But in adapting and translating work, you discover that equivalent words in another language may mean something different. Equally, in theatre, a play on the page feels very different when you see it on the stage where it exists in another language. I also work as a theatre critic, which for me, is not about criticising individuals but about looking at a piece of work at every level and assessing its qualities. I think all of this prepared the way for my work as a dramaturg. How does your experience as a dramaturg influence your teaching? I think that in order to work successfully in the theatre you need to develop the attributes of a dramaturg. You need to understand everybody’s input and the mechanics of how a piece of work makes it to the stage. At Kent, we are teaching a younger generation how to be dramaturgs; by learning about many different aspects of theatre, they are able to step outside of their work and understand the bigger picture; if you are going to be successful, you need to be able to do this. 36 Slava’s Snowshow Do you enjoy teaching? I find working with young people inspiring, you can test your ideas out on them and they often give you very interesting responses. Sometimes you meet former students who are now working in theatre and they will tell you how a particular lecture or workshop was very important to them and that is very rewarding. At Kent, unlike a lot of other drama departments, we do not have staffdirected performances either within the curriculum or outside of it. Students have access to all the resources for their own work, which we go to see and offer feedback on. Do you think Kent graduates are well-placed for employment? I think we equip them for jobs in the real world; drama gives people skills that are not just relevant to the subject itself. Confidence, projecting your voice and positive body language can help you in job interviews and impress potential employers. Many of our graduates go on to work in the theatre, but others have gone into teaching, business or social work. RECOMMENDATIONS Go out of your comfort zone – try something quirky such as Slava’s Snowshow. Performer or director you would always seek out Robert Lepage – a Québécois actor, theatre director and filmmaker, with an excellent dramaturgical sensibility, who has made a real mark on the theatre of the late 20th and early 21st century around the world. Robert Lepage viZZZual.com @ Wikicommons TBWA\Busted @ Wikicommons
STUDENT PROFILE University of Kent / ARTS STUDIO SUE HOWELL Sue Howell graduated from Kent’s Drama and Theatre Studies degree. Here, she tells us how her studies led to a dream job at the National Theatre in London. Why did you choose this programme? From a young age, I took part in performing arts, studying various forms of dance and taking both acting and singing classes before choosing to study performing arts at college. It was at college that I gained a deeper interest in theatre; as well as performing, we studied other aspects of the industry such as budgets and finance, community work and technical theatre. I was attracted by this diversity and, with a lot of help from my tutors at college, I looked into several drama and theatre studies courses. I chose the four-year programme at Kent because it seemed to offer everything I wanted, and the best prospects for me in the long run. Did your course live up to your expectations? The course offers a fair amount of flexibility and gives you the chance to explore your interests and passions. I revelled in being able to study often opposing theatre genres at the same time and being given the freedom and encouragement to bring knowledge and experience from one to inform the other. I discovered plays and whole classifications of theatre that I didn’t know existed. This was a great inspiration to me and I feel that this exploration allowed me to discover my passion for the area I now work in. I was particularly inspired by modules covering multimedia and theatre, and scenography. How would you describe the teaching at Kent? The level of teaching within the Drama Department is of a high standard, with many of the lecturers being active practitioners themselves. I felt this brought a different perspective to the teaching and guidance that they were able to offer. There were several lecturers at Kent who not only inspired me, but also encouraged and guided me through my time at university. They made my experience enjoyable and helped me get to where I am in my career. For example, my multimedia lecturer Rosie Klich opened my eyes to some amazing performances and ideas, and Gary McCann allowed me to incorporate my passion for lighting into my design work and also helped me to get my placement at the National Theatre, which led to my current employment. Bruno Poet I also owe a lot to the wonderful drama technicians at Kent – Ian Baird, Scott Miller and Sam Westbury – who took the time to help me develop my skills. With their help, I built up skills and a love of the technical side of the theatre that I guess has led to my career choice. What did you gain from your studies? I feel my course, especially my final specialism year, helped me to develop my abilities to organise and push myself to achieve my potential. I think it also gave me a good basis for working within the theatre industry. I have a good general knowledge of not only genres, but also practitioners and process. When did you first think about becoming a professional technician? I initially discovered lighting at college but my love of technical theatre definitely developed over my time at Kent – I was able to look further into how influential and integral technical aspects of the theatre really are to a performance, so becoming a technician felt like a natural progression of this development. How did you find your job at the National Theatre? As I said, I did a three-week placement working across the three different theatres that make up the National Theatre. After this experience, I was contacted by the technical manager of the Olivier Theatre and asked to work on Hamlet for a month; I have been here ever since. I have been lucky enough to be involved in productions such as the Broadway transfer Fela! and Danny Boyle’s new production of Frankenstein. I feel incredibly fortunate to have the job I do now but I’d like to think it shows how important it is to gain work experience and get your name and face out there. It has definitely taught me how important that is in this industry! What advice would you give to prospective students? The only advice I would give prospective students is to strive for whatever it is that they are passionate about. At Kent I found it possible to do that. It had a good environment and good facilities, but most importantly the staff were supportive, encouraging and passionate about theatre. And if you don’t know what you want to do, this course can help you explore yourself and your passions. 37
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