Laboratoriokierroksesta kollektiiviseen mikroskooppiin

Dramaturgin työroolista devising-työryhmässä esityssarjassa Nano Steps

Authors

• Iiris Syrjä

Keywords:

puppetry, dramaturgy, physics, devising, microscope, object theatre

Abstract

The performance series Nano Steps by Trial&Theatre was inspired by a question: what could be the world's smallest puppet? The collective's puppet theatre research, taking place in a dialogue with scientific institutions (Cornell University, Aalto University and the Czech Academy of Sciences) has so far led to two staged pieces: a Particle Performance (Helsinki City Theatre, Helsinki 2023) and Into the Lab (Alfred ve dvoře, Prague 2024). In this series, the group has brought the same equipment used by the world's leading physicists in their research laboratories to the theatre-stage. The team approaches microscopic inanimate particles as theatre puppets, moving them using the tools and techniques of applied physics. With practical examples, the writer describes the dramaturgical searching and thinking emerging from the process of the latter work, Into the Lab. She also examines the role of the dramaturg in a devising process and reflects on her practical experience of making performances with the ideas of dramaturg, professor Sodja Lotker, who defines the process of devising as research. The article concludes with a reflection on the importance of unknowing and wondering.