CONTENTS

Gilla Cremer (Germany) - CONCENTRATED MINDLESNESS

Fern Smith (Britain) - THE IMAGINARY WOMAN

Deborah Hunt (New Zealand/Puerto Rico) - HUNTER AND HUNTED: A HAUNTING

Oksana Haiko (Belarus) - ART THAT CUTS DEEP

Jill Greenhalgh (Britain) - PRACTISING PROXIMITY

Leo Sykes (Britain/Brazil) - MUSICAL ECCENTRICS

Iben Nagel Rasmussen (Denmark) - ESTER'S BOOK

Tasha Faye Evans (Canada) - SHE STANDS STILL

Maria Porter (USA) - ENNOBLING NONNA - ENABLING MARIA

Tiziana Barbiero (Italy) - ONE WHITE ROSE

Helen Chadwick (Britain) - WRITING SONGS

Anne-Sophie Erichsen (Norway) - MAKING THE TEXT

Helen Jamieson (Aotearoa New Zealand) - DEVISING WITH DISTANCE

Kaite O'Reilly (Britain) - ALTERNATIVE DRAMATURGY

Kirsten Dehlholm (Denmark) - PLASTIC STORKS, PANORAMAS AND POLIPHONY

Lena Simic (Croatia/Britain) - AN EVERYDAY PRIVILEGE

Cristina Galbiati - Ledwina Costantini (Switzerland) - INTUITIVE METHODS AND...

Charlotte Nightingale (Britain) - STUTTERING BIRDS

Emma Dante interview by Maria Ficara, Fabrizio Pompei (Italy) - THE PRACTICE OF LIVING

Guzin Yamaner (Turkey) - NEVER LET GO

Cristina Castrillo (Argentina/Switzerland) - THE SEA IS NOT ALWAYS TRANSPARENT

Ana Woolf (Argentina/France) - BORDERS, CONSTRICIONS AND LIMITS

Raphaëlle Doyon - Claire Heggen (France) - MAKING VISIBLE

Ruth Quinn (Britain) - TEACHING SPACE

Susanne Schaup (Austria/USA) - DOUBLE EDGE THEATER

Rita Superbi (Italy) - THE POWER OF THE DRUM

Susana Zimmermann (Argentina) - DORE HOYER

Tess de Quincey (New Zealand/Australia) - THINKING DANCE - DANCING THOUGHT

Geddy Aniksdal (Norway) - TO KEEP DARKNESS AT BAY

Patricia Ariza (Colombia) - POEMS

Annet Henneman (The Netherlands/Italy) - IS IT THEATRE?

Julia Varley (Britain/Denmark) - THE SEA

Margaret Ames (Wales) - A THOUSAND MILES APART

Ya-Ling Peng (Taiwan) - TURNING THE TABLES AROUND

The Open Page - OPEN NEWS

 

 

EDITORIAL

 

In the quest for the appropriation of language in the making of our own history as women working in theatre, this issue of The Open Page asked for articles on practice to encourage authors to write about the process step by step, about technique and methods, with real descriptions of how performances, training and projects are made: and to do this as concretely as possible, even though it is difficult to find a terminology that can be shared beyond the rehearsal room and the people who take part in the immediate creative process. The result is very satisfying: a significant collection of information that can be helpful to others, a generous sharing of a unique experience which can be used as advice or points of reference for other work processes even though they may strive for a totally different result, meaning or aesthetic. With this issue, The Open Page has achieved a milestone, a tangible and solid manifestation of women's work in theatre with the longest and greatest number of articles collected in one issue since 1994. We feel we have attained our aim of getting women of multiple theatres, ages, nationalities, cultural and aesthetical backgrounds to write.

 

In the articles on practice it is interesting to notice how the same sense of adventure, doubt, and the pursuit of solutions with a gradual but concrete approach, is found amongst young and experienced practitioners. It is encouraging that so many women directors can clearly articulate what guides them in their dramaturgy and work with actors, and that performers, who firmly resolve in the first person the directions of their work, can select from their experience a practice that can be understood. The political dedication, social commitment and passionate motivations of some authors are equivalent to others' determination to choose their own path and masters, to their dedication to detail and the desire to challenge and influence through teaching. Although many authors belong to a tradition of theatre that can generally be called physical, the centrality of working with, creating, writing, putting music to, and choosing text, is apparent as a through line for the whole issue.

 

The concreteness of this issue provokes in The Open Page a need for future seminar meetings to debate and consider themes even more profoundly before eventual publication, and a desire to make expeditions to those parts of the world of which we lack a deeper personal knowledge as we prepare the next issue, Theatre - Women - Song: song as melody, pulse, life passage, celebration, company and poetry.

Scores and edits, structures and frameworks, improvisation and repetition, inspiration and perspiration, mistakes and circumstances are recurrent elements of theatre practice, which are described here also with a sense of humour and self-criticism, as well as with dedication, responsibility, obsession and zeal. Practising we achieve experience and know-how. Then comes the need to change and start a new adventure. It is on this new journey that the editorial board are going to take The Open Page.

 

Julia Varley

Holstebro, March 2006