The River Flows On: Student performer engagement with the texts and methodology of Robert Lepage.

Date
2010-10
Authors
Crossley, Mark
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
ISSN
1109-821X
DOI
Volume Title
Publisher
Education and Theatre Journal
Peer reviewed
Yes
Abstract
Between September 2008 and February 2009, a cohort of third year Drama Studies undergraduates at De Montfort University (DMU) in the UK adapted and then performed ‘The Seven Streams of the River Ota’ by Robert Lepage. In my capacity as a module tutor, I acted as a director for the project. The original professional production developed between 1994 and 1996 was indelibly connected to and constructed upon the individual, creative contributions of the artistic company (performers and technicians) that Lepage assembled. It is therefore, arguably, a multiple set of autobiographical narratives. By perceiving the text in this way, as a reflexive creation, it prompts several pedagogical questions: • What potential is there for student performers to find creative ownership when they are approaching the text for the first time? • Can the ‘embers’ of the written dramatic text ignite a new performance text for the students? • What teaching and learning challenges are created when undergraduate drama students are asked to navigate between written (dramatic) and devised (performance) text within one production? The aim of this paper is to illuminate and analyze these questions through the specific rehearsal process and performance case study and reflect upon the possibilities and challenges created for drama students in the intersection between an extant dramatic text of Lepage and the personalized, devising imperative of his working methodology. In particular there will be a focus on the potential for the RSVP process (see description in main text) and the concept of ‘décalage’, as used by Lepage, to be perceived as a pedagogical framework upon which students may construct ownership and authorship over their own learning and creative practice. My intention is also to highlight some of the tensions created through such a methodology that embraces indeterminacy. Note – the citations I draw upon are consciously and unapologetically centered upon texts on or by Robert Lepage (rather than works related to educational theory) as my intention, as already stated, is to offer his methodology as a pedagogical model.
Description
Keywords
Robert Lepage, RSVP, decalage, text, performance, student, pedagogy, university
Citation
Crossley, M. (2010) The River Flows On: Student performer engagement with the texts and methodology of Robert Lepage. Education and Theatre Journal, Issue no 11 Hellenic Theatre / Drama and Education Network pp 23 – 34.
Research Institute
Institute of Drama, Dance and Performance Studies