Work

Physical Dramaturgy: An Embodied Approach to Exploring Shakespeare’s Text Through Devising and Collaborative Creation

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: This essay introduces an experiential process through which student actors can explore any Shakespearean play. Anne Bogart’s Viewpoints technique serves as the foundation for a creative process informed by devising exercises and physical composition. In this essay, I demonstrate how this physically based dramaturgical process enables students to pay particular attention to the foundational elements that uniquely shape the story, such as time, space, sound, architecture, and gesture. This process gives student actors the agency to create material inspired by Shakespeare yet infused with their own imagination and curiosity. It allows students to wake up Shakespeare’s text in unexpected ways, embrace collaboration, and embody the richly detailed expression of Shakespeare’s poetic language. This essay aims to be a resource for educators and directors alike who are interested in a collaborative process that can either be integrated into rehearsals or serve as a foundation for classroom-based discussions. As such, this process can be mapped onto any classical or contemporary play, even though this essay features Shakespeare as the foundation for exploration.

Source: Humanities

DOI: 10.3390/h14110225

Author: Doreen Bechtol

Institutions: Mary Baldwin University, American Shakespeare Center

Language: English

Topic: Theatre and Performance Studies

Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts

Field: Arts and Humanities

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: gold

Estimated APC paid: $1,689