Reconsidering Purpose, Art and Performance

Statement 2: On Contemporary Dramaturgy

Anton Chekhov put it best when he said, ‘If a pistol appears in a story, eventually it’s got to be fired.’ (…) What Chekhov was getting at is this: necessity is an independent concept. It has a different structure from logic, morals or meaning. Its function lies entirely in the role it plays. What doesn’t play a role shouldn’t exist. What necessity requires does need to exist. That’s what you call dramaturgy. Logic, morals or meaning don’t have anything to do with it. It’s all a question of relationality. Chekhov understood dramaturgy very well.

(Murakami, Haruki, Kafka on the shore. London: Vintage, Random House, 2005. p. 376).

When art-based practice teaches us to think

In a time of a pandemic the concept of necessity in performance becomes more urgent. On the one hand you want necessity to be present in your life as a compass for living. But at the same time in lockdown you have to deal with a lack of necessity given to you. In order to protect yourself against a lack of motivation or feeling of purpose you have to create a necessity everyday of your daily, small life. It's challenging and it demands creativity and resilience. 

With the cultural field in lockdown, theaters and museums closed, people not able to work and hardly any production of art and performance to begin with, necessity is all we are longing for. Covid-19 proofs that we need a purpose for any kind of performance. And we are confronted with something that shouldn't be playing a role in our lives, but is oppressing our movements. How to practice dramaturgy in a situation where the necessity of surviving and coping is being forced upon you? What does dramaturgy do when in a state of overcoming?

With this question popped I like to turn around the quote on top. What if you are the one not playing a role in the story? How to survive until the next narrative? What necessary role to play in the current performative event? To me this is what it is about: I relate to what I can engage with. The stage seems small, but the imaginary effect of 'what could be', will create a sense of purpose. I accept that I don't own the narrative, that alone I'm nothing more than 'the gun'. How I perform depends on personal needs somewhere between being free, being safe and staying healthy. 

Dramaturgic reflection on the expelled performance I just described has uncovered an essential and deep desire, what it means to be human and defining actively the world I want to live in. Not necessity but purpose that lasts and makes it worth working hard, is what makes me keep the performance up, keeps me connected to the complex scenery. Emotional awareness of what is happening outside my control is driving me towards a future role to play. Contemporary dramaturgy won't help me skip the non-essential of a narrative, but making the space for mapping out new performative drives that will change the stage and stories for the better. 

Art practice, art research is already for seeing alternative futures by its critical reflection and imaginary creations. Art will be more important than ever to rebuilt what is a necessity.