Class Dramaturgy

A Dramaturgy curricular unit is not limited to the study of dramatic literature: it examines how theatre organises action, produces meaning, and relates to the spectator. It addresses the paradox described by Patrice Pavis as the simultaneous "failure" and "triumph" of dramaturgy. Traditionally, dramaturgy refers to the composition of plays and, since Lessing, to the critical thinking that accompanies the passage from text to stage. Its extension to dance, performance, and new media, together with postdramatic practices, has weakened the primacy of the dramatic text without eliminating dramaticity or dramaturgical organisation. The course combines historical and conceptual perspectives with the analysis of modern and contemporary texts and practices: Aristotle and Lessing; plot, character, and dialogue; Strindberg and Beckett; cultural memory; Handke, Castellucci, devised theatre, and documentary theatre. It develops analytical tools connecting writing, stage, and spectator.

Not applicable

1. The failure and triumph of contemporary dramaturgy 1.1. Crisis of drama, postdramatic theatre, and new forms of dramaticity 1.2. Handke: Offending the Audience 1.3. Castellucci: presence and representation in Inferno 2. The concept and history of dramaturgy 2.1. Dramaturg and Dramatiker 2.2. Aristotle: normative dramaturgy 2.3. Lessing: critical dramaturgy 2.4. Dramaturgy as a "state of mind" (Dort) 3. Dramatic writing and cultural memory 3.1. Classical tragedy, Shakespeare, and Heiner Müller 4. Dramatic categories 4.1. Plot 4.2. Character 4.3. Dialogue 5. Strindberg and intimate theatre 5.1. The chamber of confidences 5.2. Internalisation of conflict and crisis of dramatic form 6. Beckett and the theatre of dispossession 6.1. Waiting for Godot and the erosion of action 6.2. The dramaticules 7. Heiner Müller: from the work to "materials" 8. Devised and documentary theatre 8.1. Collaborative creation and the dramaturgical function 8.2. Dramaturgies of the real

The innovative methodologies combine theoretical exposition, guided reading, and the collective analysis of dramatic and theoretical texts, complemented by excerpts, films, and video recordings of performances. This intermedial dimension enables students to compare dramatic works with adaptations, quotations, or recreations in other media, observing the transformations involved in the passage from text to stage and screen. The aim is to relate writing to staging choices, modes of representation, and the effects produced on the spectator, thereby fostering a comparative and critical reading of the works studied.

BENTLEY, Eric, The Life of the Drama. New York: Atheneum, 1964. CARLSON, Marvin, Palco Assombrado: O Teatro Enquanto Máquina da Memória. Trad. Paulo Faria. Porto/Vila Nova de Famalicão: Teatro Nacional São João/Edições Húmus, 2020. DANAN, Joseph, O que é a Dramaturgia?. Trad. Luís Varela. Lisboa: Licorne, 2010. GALE, Maggie B.; DEENEY, John F. (eds.), Routledge Drama Anthology and Sourcebook: From Modernism to Contemporary Performance. London/New York: Routledge, 2010. LEHMANN, Hans-Thies, Teatro Pós-Dramático. Trad. Manuela Gomes e Sara Seruya. Lisboa: Orfeu Negro, 2017. LESSING, G. E., Dramaturgia de Hamburgo: Seleção Antológica. Trad. Manuela Nunes. Lisboa: Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian, 2005. ROMANSKA, Magda (ed.), The Routledge Companion to Dramaturgy. London/New York: Routledge, 2016. TRENCSÉNYI, Katalin; COCHRANE, Bernadette (eds.), New Dramaturgy: International Perspectives on Theory and Practice. London/New York: Bloomsbury, 2014.