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