Creator

Collaboration is an essential aspect of most forms and practices of theatre, whether performers are collaborating with musicians or the lighting designer is collaborating with the director. Collaboration is also the most common approach taken by companies creating original work. In a collaborative project, each individual involved takes on responsibility for being the creator.

In one model, the individuals who make up the ensemble collectively take responsibility for all aspects of performance and production, performing in the piece as well as directing sections of it, designing and building the set, and having a say in the lighting and sound.

In another model, the ensemble is made up of specialists—director(s), performer(s) and designer(s) who collectively have a hand in creating the piece of theatre before adopting ultimate responsibility for their specialist areas. Specialist roles are activated once the piece has been developed and is being prepared for an audience.

It is up to you to choose the most appropriate model for particular projects. In assessed tasks one (HL only) and four you will have to take on the role of the creator.

“Devised work is a response and a reaction to the playwright-director relationship, to text-based theatre, and to naturalism, and challenges the prevailing ideology of one person’s text under another person’s direction. Devised theatre is concerned with the collective creation of art (not the single vision of the playwright) and it is here that the emphasis has shifted from the writer to the creative artist.”

Oddey, A. 1994. Devising Theatre: A Practical and Theoretical Handbook. Oxon, UK. Routledge. P 4.

The role of the creator

During your IB Theatre course you should develop an understanding of the skill set and key responsibilities associated with the role of the creator, as outlined below.

Role Key responsibilities Skill set
Creator The creator is responsible for the creation of an original piece of theatre or various pieces of material that will ultimately be shaped into a piece of theatre.
  • The ability to generate theatrical material from a variety of sources and starting points
  • The ability to experiment and play with ideas
  • An imaginative handling of material
  • The ability to lead exercises that explore material
  • The ability to differentiate between material that needs to be developed, material that needs to be abandoned and material that is effective and can be built into the piece
  • An understanding of how a piece is structured, paying attention to pace, sequence, transitions, dramatic tension and meaning
  • The ability to transform ideas into moments of action
  • An understanding of how individual moments of theatre function within a whole piece
  • An understanding of how elements of production and performance function together to create a particular impact or effect
  • The ability to research