Theatre History Overview - Part 91 - Devised Theatre

Most people are used to traditional theatre where the roles of each theatre artist are typically given and they don't tend to cross into other roles. Actors act, lighting technicians design lighting schemes work with lights, directors direct, and scenic designers build sets. However, devised theatre invites all theatre artists to be any and all of these things at once. The start date of devised theatre is also difficult to place. However, the movement that is still current in 2018 is usually said to have started to take place in the 1990s.

Devised theatre is difficult to define. This is because there isn't one exact definition. John Walton probably gives the simplest defition is probably, "a process in which the whole creative team develops a show collaboratively. From actors to technicians, everyone is involved in the creative process." Vanesa Garcia writes that devised theatre is "theatre that begins without a script. The script gets 'written' as the rehearsal process takes place through a series of improvisations and collaborations." Eric Grode says devised theatre "typically begins with little more than a rehearsal space and a group of eager, committed theatre practitioners. Through a series of improvisatory theatre games or other conceptual ice-breakers, they start to tease out the kinds of stories they’d like to tell and the way they’d like to tell them. Over time, a text emerges, one covered with the fingerprints of each and every participant."

Twentieth Century Postmodern Theatre paved the way for the current devised theatre movement. However, collaboration in theatre goes all the way back to the beginning of theatre. Some of the major movements that involved collaboration were Commedia del Arte and Poor Theatre.

Eventually a play will need to come together and have a person be a director in order to keep it in one cohesive piece. However, that is not how it starts. The devised play starts with a group of people collaborating to make a theatrical piece. This may be started with a group of people that do not have an idea and come up with one or it may be started by one person or a few people that have an idea or a theme.

If the idea or the theme is already set, a group of people who are willing to help with the piece are assembled and they can all look or listen to gathered information in order to help inform their contributions. Devised theatre may take the form of any type of theatre. Sometimes an ensemble will get together and decide to produce a drama or a comedy. If there are musicians in the ensemble, the final production may be a musical. If the purpose of the ensemble is to bring awareness to social issues, then the play may be small scenes put together or a mix of all different kinds of theatre.

One or more of the ensemble members will most likely write down what happens or is said in order to help keep a unifed script. Sometimes the script is meant to stay exactly as it is. Other times the script is meant only to be an outline. Even at other times, the script may be meant to be kept mostly as it is, but it can evolve and have others add to it. It is only once the play has come together and is being rehearsed to be kept in once piece that people start taking on singular roles.

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