A Dream Play dramaturgs and director let imaginations wander over Strindberg’s text
David Kennedy
As a production dramaturg on the upcoming Studio Theatre’s A Dream Play, I engaged in a discussion with director David Kennedy, and my fellow dramaturgs John Battye and Dana Tanner-Kennedy, about the creative process behind staging this strange and beautiful play.
Rohan Kulkarni: Firstly, how did you arrive at choosingA Dream Play
David Kennedy: It’s a play I’ve long admired. It’s wide open in terms of interpretive possibilities, and I find my imagination gets fired up by the freedom to create in dialogue with a master text. I also identify with Strindberg’s rather melancholy view of the human condition. And Caryl Churchill’s adaptation for ten actors is perfectly suited to this class. Sometimes there are plays you’ve always wanted to do, and suddenly the right occasion presents itself.
A Dream Play is designed by Zsofia Opra-Szabo as her MFA in Theatre Design thesis production. Photo by Ed Ellis.
Rohan: In what way do you interpret (and stage) Strindberg’s vision of the dream?
David: To me the dream is life. It’s not a play about dreaming in the literal sense of the word. It’s about existence as a kind of dream. The play employs the dreaming state as a metaphor for the disorienting and dislocating nature of what it means to live in the world. So it was important to think about staging life, in all its messiness and complication. That called for a deep investigation of inner life, which of course goes beyond mere psychology to encompass the irrational. It also means we tried to steer clear of clichés we often associate with the dramatic presentation of dreams. For me a dream consists of sharp juxtapositions of often-unremarkable stuff. Or at least, it seems unremarkable at the time.
Dana Tanner-Kennedy: What interests me most is why Strindberg, in particular, wanted to stage the dream. Where did this impulse come from? During Strindberg’s moment in history, there was a growing interest in the staging of the subjective human experience. This came in opposition to the explorations of bourgeois family life, and the kind of socially minded realism that we see, for example, in some of Ibsen’s work. Strindberg was influenced by both of these kinds of theatre. He became interested in the dream state, and the mystical realities behind everyday experience. He managed to marry the two traditions in his work, which seems paradoxical, and it is.
John Battye: When we talk about dreams in theatre, which in itself is a platform for imagination, we open up an interesting conversation. There is something curious about Strindberg’s decision to combine Naturalism and Symbolism, and he moves away from the idea that the universe is a knowable and accessible entity. Trying to concretize the subjective is very exciting, and is rife with contradictions, but it is what we grapple with in everyday life. Much like the hairpin in the play, it’s perfect and impossible at the same time.
A Dream Play is designed by Zsofia Opra-Szabo as her MFA in Theatre Design thesis production. Photo by Ed Ellis.
Rohan: What has the dramaturgical process for this production been like?
John: Working with David and Dana, who have a strong feel for art and theatre history, we were pulling literary and visual art from a number of different eras. There is, therefore, no specific time period to this production. We brought material from classical to contemporary art movements, which lends a unique character to the visual and intertexutal memory of the piece.
A Dream Play is designed by Zsofia Opra-Szabo as her MFA in Theatre Design thesis production. Photo by Ed Ellis.
Dana: And in addition to all the research we did, we spent a significant amount of time diving into the text to discover its complexities. We met over the course of a few months, sat around our dining table, and just talked about the play. We let our imaginations wander, and brought up anecdotes whenever the text related to our own lives. It was a process of imagining and associative thinking.
And once we got into production, it was about interfacing with the actors. We interacted with their process, and our goal was to help them get inside the text in a sensual, kinesthetic and embodied way.
John: For example, Hunter, who plays the role of the Quarantine Master, wanted to get a real sense of living and working in a quarantine zone. We gave him a short documentary on Ebola and how it was to work in affected areas during the outbreak, which helped his creative process. It’s about finding the right connections that spark the imagination.
A Dream Play is designed by Zsofia Opra-Szabo as her MFA in Theatre Design thesis production. Photo by Ed Ellis.
Rohan: How has your first experience at the helm of a Studio Theatre production been? What will the audience take away from this production ofA Dream Play
David: This is indeed my first experience at Studio, and I’ve very much enjoyed the contact with the students and staff. I was trained in a similar kind of conservatory environment, so to be here as faculty is a real treat. I also love the space itself, which of course we’re using in a rather unconventional fashion, with the audience on the stage. That’s been a real challenge, but a welcome one. As for what an audience takes away, I don’t think about that when I’m working. I have to stage something that makes sense to me and then hope it speaks to others. If I do well, everybody comes away with something different.
A Dream Play is designed by Zsofia Opra-Szabo as her MFA in Theatre Design thesis production. Photo by Ed Ellis.
Presenter: U of A Studio Theatre
Event Title: A Dream Play by August Strindberg. Adaptation by Caryl Churchill.
Dates: March 26 – April 4 at 7:30 p.m. No show Sunday.
$5 preview Wednesday, March 25 at 7:30 p.m.
Matinee Thursday, April 2 at 12:30 p.m.
Venue: Timms Centre for the Arts, University of Alberta
Single show tickets: $11 student, $22 adult, $20 senior available online now at TIX on the Square and at the Timms Centre box office one hour before each performance.
Directed by David Kennedy, A Dream Play is Zsofia Opra-Szabo’s MFA Theatre Design thesis, featuring the work of the BFA class of 2015, including BFA Acting performers, BFA stage management, BFA theatre design and BFA technical theatre students.
For full cast, creative team and production team see show page: http://uofa.ualberta.ca/events/a-dream-play
David Kennedy
David Kennedy is an Assistant Professor in the University of Alberta’s Department of Drama and the Associate Artistic Director of Connecticut’s Westport Playhouse, where he has directed Nora, Loot, Tartuffe, Suddenly Last Summer, Beyond Therapy, and Dinner With Friends. Prior to Westport, he was on the artistic staff of Dallas Theater Center as Associate Director and then as Acting Artistic Director. For DTC he directed The Misanthrope, Glengarry Glen Ross, Moonlight and Magnolias, Thom Pain (based on nothing), I Am My Own Wife, and The Violet Hour, as well as readings of many new plays. He was also the founding Artistic Director of Halifax’s Milkman Theatre Group (1992-1999) and the Artistic Director of New Haven’s Summer Cabaret (1998). In addition, his directing work has been seen at the Wilma Theater, Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Clarence Brown Theatre Company, The Hangar Theatre, The Old Globe Theatre’s Graduate Conservatory, Asolo Rep Conservatory, University of Rochester’s International Theatre Program, Prospect Theater Company, 78th Street Theatre Lab, and Ship’s Company Theatre.
John Battye
John has recently completed his MA in Drama at the University of Alberta, and is continuing to attend the university in order to complete a PhD in Performance Studies. Originally from Ontario, John has worked as a dramaturg, improviser, and director; notably at the Blyth Festival, Magic Box Productions, and the Canadian Improv Games. In Alberta, John has pursued dramaturgical work in the New Works, Canoe, and StageLab Festivals. His research specializes in Canadian theatre and Digitally-mediatized performance.
Dana Tanner-Kennedy
Dana is a sessional instructor in the Department of Drama and a professional dramaturg. Credits include Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale (Carnegie Hall, NY); Hamlet (with Paul Giamatti, Yale Repertory Theatre, CT); Urge for Going (The Public Theater, NY); Nora, Loot, Suddenly Last Summer, and Dinner with Friends (Westport Country Playhouse, CT); Psychos Never Dream (Kitchen Dog Theater, Dallas); Romeo and Juliet and Othello (Shakespeare Dallas). She is a former Literary Associate for Yale Rep and a former managing editor of Theater magazine. Dana spent five seasons in the education department at Dallas Theater Center, serving as Associate Director for two, and worked in the literary offices of Atlantic Theater Company and The Public Theater in New York. She currently teaches play analysis in the Summer Conservatory for Actors at Yale University.
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