Download PERFORMING ART IS NOT A ONE MAN SHOW: BASICS OF

PERFORMING ART IS NOT A ONE MAN SHOW: BASICS OF ARTISTIC WORK
(In Search of Cultural Heritage as a Production Advantage)
TATJANA AZMAN, DRAMATURGE
My Motherland - Slovenia
I come from Central / Eastern European Country, neighboring to Italy, Croatia, Hungary and
Austria. The population of this small country is only 2 million. Slovenia was formerly a part of
Yugoslavia and is independent since 1991, now Slovenia is a member of the European Union.
Because of the historical background, Slovenia was always a mixture of different cultures.
Before the First WW we even didn’t have our national institutions, because we belonged to the
Austrian-Hungarian Empire this was only possible after 1918 when in this region a Kingdom of
Serbs, Croats and Slovenians was formed. Geographically Slovenia is located as a bridge
between Western and Eastern Europe. Our capital Ljubljana dates as far as the time of the
Roman Empire and was in that time called Emona. The dragon, a symbol of our capital, is
something close to Chinese culture, but in fact it is supposed to be a legendary dragon which
Jason and his crew of Argonauts killed while travelling in search of Golden Fleece.
Ljubljana, foto: internet
Academy for Theatre, Radio, Film and TV, University of Ljubljana
My alma mater - AGRFT, is a small academy, recruiting students in Theatre, Radio, Film and
Television in majors like theatre and radio directing, acting, dramaturgy and film and TV
directing. Since we changed a university system to Bologna Accord, after First Cycle of 3 years
and getting a BA and during MA studies, students have even more developed and varied studies
of particular subjects in performing arts, film and TV industry.
My profession - DRAMATURGE
By profession I am a dramaturge, which is a very interesting field of performing arts, both in
the sense of practical artistic and theoretical work. To be more precise, dramaturgy can be
understood in many ways, but please consider this profession as one which is still developing,
because you can find dramaturgs all around the World, but you might notice they cover
different fields and have different jobs. More or less we can understand a dramaturg to be
involved in playwriting, as a member of the production artistic team as a close collaborator of a
director, a member of the theatre artistic team as a consultant, a dramaturg can also be a
theatrologyst, researcher and critic and can work as a part of theatre teams, such as literal
consulting, audience developing, education and marketing. After graduation I was a freelance
artist for some years and was working in a Municipal theatre in Celje. I was also involved in
many projects in many different disciplines, including drama, dance, children’s theatre, puppet
theatre, etc. I also worked at our national TV on TV shows and was a journalist for a while, all of
which was a great experience. Later I was invited to an independent theatre in Ljubljana to be a
dramaturge, and after entering the national Opera house in Ljubljana I was a first professional
in house dramaturge there after many years.
After finishing the University, the artistic work one does may be quite different from what
you were studying or you will be executing later in your professional life, but in fact all
professional experience can become useful one day. I personally consider a dramaturge in
many ways quite important for each theatre. Dramaturges position is a collective experience,
between the stage and audience. In order to produce a good work or performance, we need to
cooperate with the artistic team (director, conductor, stage and costume designer, makeup
artist, light designer, sound design …) and also with the performing part of our ensembles
(singers, dancers). After working with the professionals, we would also like to see the
performance objectively as an audience sees it; our position is therefore to represent audience
at the same time. During the performance rehearsal we observe the location of performers on
the stage, their interaction and interpretation set by the director, interpretation of the text,
function of costumes, lighting, back ground settings and many more important things
happening on the stage. If there’s anything wrong, we are supposed to make our remarks in
time. To make sure the performance is going to be successful, we always need to convey the
right emotions and values to the audience. If the show went well, then we could say that a
dramaturgical line was well performed.
Where I work
I would like to introduce The Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, one of
the largest theatres in our country, which has almost 300 artists, technical and management
stuff employed. This place used to be a very old and not well maintained building originally built
in 1892, the main problem was also that many contemporary technical demanding works were
not possible to be produced due to an old and bad infrastructure. After several years of
renovation (2007 – 2011), now there is a very nice platform as well as stage, audio and lighting
equipment, together it well provides a lot of excellent performances, including ballet, opera,
experimental productions and other events. It is also considered to be a magnificent historical
building. More on: www.opera.si
Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: R. Balen
Slovenian National Theatre Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: D. Prelovsek
Workflow
Our working time is from September to June or July. Before the project begins, the artistic
leadership starts a discussion, to decide what our next message to the audience is going to be.
The theme for the season of 2016/2017 is The Encounter between the Worlds. We wanted to
express our point of view on this matter and compose it together with the choice of titles on
the repertoire. The next step of our collective planning is the selection of the artistic team. First
are to be determined the director and the conductor, then according to our mutual artistic
vision, we choose the professional artistic team. A good team is very important in order to have
a good communication from the very start and later in the artistic creation process. It is very
much appreciated that the members of the team listen to each other, search for good ideas and
later together combine those ideas to a complete work.
Opera The Tenth Daughter – practical example
Slovenian opera novelty The Tenth Daughter was produced in May 2015 and is based on
the Slovenian national heritage, on the very folk old story about the tenth child in the family
who was usually not very much appreciated. So, the leading character is the tenth daughter of
the family, who had to leave her home in search of better life. The background was based on
the old social perceptions. So, to attract the audience’s interest, especially the interest of the
young audience to accept this work, was a demanding task. Nowadays we have to be aware
that it is easy to be influenced by pop-culture, fashion and all modern influences and, at the
same time, it is also very easy to forget a precious cultural heritage, which we may find in many
art forms and may be as varied as a simple folk poem, a painting, a legend ... We started our
creative process of this new opera from a very simple poem which was transformed into
libretto, an opera text. In this libretto we one can find a lot of influences from our national,
Slavic background, some of it almost forgotten.
The Tenth Daughter, SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: Darja Stravs Tisu
The Tenth Daughter, SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: Darja Stravs Tisu
The Tenth Daughter, SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: Darja Stravs Tisu
The Tenth Daughter, SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: Darja Stravs Tisu
Then, a composer added his perspective by composing music which was inspired by
different interesting motifs from our music national heritage. In one part of the libretto a
composer added the oldest known written text in Slovenian from the 8th Century A.D and his
music was improving a force of this detail by its most powerful way. In the musical meaning of
the word, orchestration of the work was contemporary, but at the same time it included also
the use of traditional instruments, not used in the orchestra those days anymore.
The Tenth Daughter, SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: Darja Stravs Tisu
The Tenth Daughter, SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: Darja Stravs Tisu
The creation of sets incorporated many symbols and elements which have the
background in national heritage. When the Tenth Daughter leaves her home and she finds
herself in the forest we did not use the realistic way to express the forest and therefore used
many symbols instead. Long wooden sticks marked the forest, ancient Slavic symbols marked
different kind of trees and we incorporated those also as a part of singer’s costumes. Because
the stage of our opera can be lifted, we decided not to build anything else, but to use only the
technological elements of stage to express different stage design.
The Tenth Daughter, SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: Darja Stravs Tisu
The Tenth Daughter, SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: Darja Stravs Tisu
The Tenth Daughter, SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: Darja Stravs Tisu
To move even closer to some national heritage elements there was a moment of the
creative process when we decided to use also some ancient text and even created a new
language which we incorporated in the scene of arrival of the ancient nation of Gypsies. There
we added a tense atmosphere through music, dance and colorful costumes.
The Tenth Daughter, SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: Darja Stravs Tisu
The Tenth Daughter, SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: Darja Stravs Tisu
The Tenth Daughter, SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: Darja Stravs Tisu
Next element we used is “the purification of the soul” which led us to bring and
optimistic end to the story. Besides the main character of the girl interpreted by the
professional singer, we used also a symbolistic figure of the young Tenth Daughter performed
by a very young singer. In the story the little girl is alone on the stage; there are only music and
a little girl. She sings, with the water in her hand and the water pouring on the stage, which is
the symbol of purity, purification of our souls in this cruel World. This, by the way, was also the
main topic of this work: we wanted to show the brutal strength of the power of our society and
the destiny of anonymous human being. But, the good prevails if we bring out the best in us.
The Tenth Daughter, SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: Darja Stravs Tisu
The Tenth Daughter, SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana, foto: Darja Stravs Tisu
The production was very well received. It was not at all just some story foretold. It was a
dynamic, clean and energetic performance with many different elements, oriented to bring the
forgotten nature of our nation as well as the contemporary staging of the up-to-date theme.
Collective work
Theatre is like a big family, people involved are in charge of different elements and they
all spent a lot of time and hard work for every single show. So, it is important to know that as a
professional you will be working with a group of people, not just by yourself.
At the very beginning of each creative process we have to be aware of many different
facts and conditions we have, and this comes besides our strong wish to be artistically creative.
Such things as: a performing place or venue, budget and the importance of audience are
nowadays unfortunately even more important than artistic creativity, even though artist don’t
always agree on that.
But fortunately, even though some ideas might need more funding, a lot of good ideas
can as well be realized with very little funding. Some artists consider those projects to be even
more creative and opened for different approaches. The most important thing working in such
teams, which often are marked as a smaller scale productions in professional theatres or
productions produced by independent companies, are maybe the best place to learn the basics
of artistic work. The fact that sometimes you will have work with people you don't like, but that
you still have to work with them, is something we add to the fact we do our artistic work for
living and this often becomes an obstacle in big professional companies where artists are
engaged for a longer period of time. Independent companies are usually run by free-lance
artists who gather for a project and therefore the group is gathered for a certain production
and more carefully selected. There is a good question about whether to work with your friends
or with artists you know nothing about. One needs to try both and get to know both sides of
the business to know which is better for her or him personally. When a project is ended, some
people might still work together, some might not, but this is what makes an artistic World alive.
This way we all gain more knowledge from each other and we learn how to collaborate.
Summary
Team work is the basis of collective work. Especially in performing art we cannot develop any
creation without the team. Directors, set designers, costume designers, lighting designers, text
writers, dramaturges, all those artists are this or the other way connected in the process of
conceiving a production. Later, performers take over and the artistic team is there to build a
production together. So performing arts is always about the collaboration, exchange of ideas
and sharing ideas between all the artists involved. Even a one man show cannot be produced
properly without some kind of a team.
I tried to give you some ideas about what is a professional work and what is expected of you,
as I have had masters who guided me during my studies. Thru the description of what was
needed to produce an opera with the national heritage character and ideas about my
professional work, you can have a glimpse into practical way of production. For sure there are
many opened questions and one presentation is not enough to give you a full picture. But, as an
artist, I would like to underline one very important thing. Trust your intuition and ideas and
when later in the creative process you feel lost, try to remember your first idea, because this is
most definitely the purest thought you can always share with your team. I wish you good luck
with your life and art!
ADDITIONAL PRODUCTION INFO:
Milko Lazar
THE TENTH DAUGHTER
An Operatorio in Ten Scenes Based on a Libretto by Svetlana Makarovič
A Slovenian Novelty, performed in Slovenian with English subtitles
First Performance: 15 May 2015
Music: Milko Lazar
Libretto: Svetlana Makarovič
Music Director and Conductor: Marko Hribernik
Stage Director and Set Designer: Rocc
Costume Designer: Miro Sabo
Dramaturge: Tatjana Ažman
Choreographer: Gregor Luštek
Lighting Designer: Jasmin Šehić
Choir Mistress: Željka Ulčnik Remic
Language Coach: Nevenka Verstovšek
Concertmaster: Igor Grasselli
Opera Soloists, Choire and Orchestra SNT Opera and Ballet Ljubljana
IN BRIEF
The Slovenian composer Milko Lazar (1965), who has established himself abroad as well,
created an “operatorio” The Tenth Daughter, based on a libretto by one of our greatest living
literature writers Svetlana Makarovič (1939). The story revolves around a refined and rather
common understanding of universal love as traced in the mythological structure of the folk
song about the Tenth Daughter. The performance is directed by the Artistic Director of the
Ljubljana Opera Rocc, who mainly dedicates himself to directing of contemporary opera pieces.
The performance is conducted by Marko Hribernik.
Notes on the Tenth Daughter
Extracts from the Interview with the Composer Milko Lazar by Veronika Bervar
/…/
It was already back in 2001 that Svetlana Makarovič and I created together the Tenth Daughter for the
solemn presentation of the Literary Award Kresnik at Rožnik Hill in Ljubljana. For the event, directed by
Igor Likar, a mixed choir and percussionists were put at my disposal. Svetlana wrote the lyrics and thus
our scenic oratorio was born. Even then we were already thinking about conceiving something bigger –
an opera, perhaps. Six years ago we were discussing its staging at the SNG Opera in balet Ljubljana.
However, at that time the theatre's management was changing so fast that it was quite impossible to
reach any definite agreement there regarding our performance. This time, fifteen years after the
oratorio's premiere, the initiative came spontaneously from the side of the Opera. Thrilled about the
idea, Rocc, the Artistic Director of Opera, immediately asked me how much time I needed to finish the
work. My guess was a year, so the opera was already listed into this year's season. Then Svetlana and I
got together again to write a brand new libretto and to compose a very new music to it that had nothing
to do with the work we created fifteen years ago. I asked Svetlana to include an additional role for an
actor in the libretto. Thus to perform in the opera beside the singers is an actor-reciter-narrator, on
whom Svetlana bestowed the role of the Court Jester. With this character a drastic change occurred to
the story as compared to the folk legend and its original text, giving way to a spanking new, and yet a
very interesting libretto. From there on the things unwound very quickly, since there was not much time
left and the performance was already planned for this year's season. I am convinced that a new operatic
work to a new libretto can be created only in a close collaboration between the composer, the director
and the dramaturge. Although the music was composed quite autonomously, I regularly discussed the
course of my work with the director and the dramaturge and with the conductor as well, since some
musical parts had to be adapted to the theatre or stage realisation in advance. In some cases I also
gladly gave ear to the director's suggestions. I would like to use the opportunity and thank all the
members of the artistic team, who supported me throughout the process of creating, and especially the
director Rocc, the conductor Marko Hribernik, the dramaturge Tatjana Ažman and the choreographer
Gregor Luštek.
/…/
I see Desetnica (the Tenth Female Child or the Tenth) as an eternal character, present throughout the
history of mankind. It is a myth, symbolising the difference from the majority, the everlasting
homelessness. It all boils down to the two sides of the coin; one of it - folk and pre-Christian and the
other one - topical. We are all aware of the fact that »different« people are still outcast from all levels of
specific public sphere, specific society. If you are different, you are outcast and forced to leave. And this
is where the topicality of the story is revealed as well.
/…/
I have always liked a play on words, so I made up a word operatorio, which was never used before.
Stravinsky described his work Oedipus Rex as an »opera-oratorio«, but I did not want to follow his
example. As a creator I am certainly allowed to manufacture any word I might choose and write it on the
score. The duality of the work's title also follows its contents and the main motto, brought to us by the
Court Jester: »There's a grain of truth in every joke.« And as far as the sound of the »invented« word is
concerned, there is a certain musicality to it in different languages as well – operatorio, operatorium,
operatore … I find it interesting that to many people it sounds familiar, although it never existed before.
Indeed, it offers quite a number of associations, but what was most essential for me was that it also
introduces a new way of thinking. I am aware that some people will find such denomination quite
problematic. But that's how it is, some of us are creating and the others are making comments. My wish
was to unstuck myself from the dusty, mothball labels and morbid, stuffy forms, which are hindering
development and inspiration. This time I really had an opportunity to compose a text – partly dramatic
and partly poetic – in an entirely new way. And honestly, I did not see classical opera in it …
/…/
THE TENTH DAUGHTER
CONTENTS
First Scene: Townspeople
Second Scene: The Court Jester - Prologue
Third Scene: The White Castle
Ten Daughters are celebrating their birthday at the White Castle. They are playing a funny game, in
which the youngest among them must leave her home. The Court Jester drops a hint that there is a grain
of truth in every joke. Offended, the youngest daughter calls her mother for help.
Fourth Scene: The Mother
The Mother tries to calm down her daughters and to console the Tenth one. The Court Jester plays the
Ninth King, but the Tenth Daughter is not amused. It is getting dark and musicians are expected at the
castle. The merrymaking starts to last until late in the evening, when the daughters are sent to bed. Only
the Mother and the Court Jester stay awake and the latter reminds her of an old legend about the Curse
and the Midnight Bat.
Fifth Scene: The Midnight Bat
On the stroke of midnight the beating of wings is heard. The Midnight Bat brings in a ring, obliging the
Mother to put it on, or else everyone will have to face Death. When she puts the ring on, her heart turns
to stone and she banishes her Tenth Daughter from the Castle.
Sixth Scene: The Forest
On a Midsummer Night the Tenth Daughter is seeking shelter in the forest. During a thunderstorm she
takes refuge under a pine tree and then under a beech tree, but both trees warn her that they can be
struck by lightning. Finally, she finds shelter under the seven time blessed holy hornbeam. Yet lightning
hits this very tree and burns it down to the ground … The Tenth resumes her journey …
Seventh Scene: Death
The Court Jester tells the story about the Tenth Daughter, who comes back home after seven years and
is rejected by her Mother, when she asks if she could stay overnight. In the story the Jester reminds the
Mother that the time has come for her to take the ring off. When she does that, her heart is no longer a
stone; she becomes aware of her deeds and weeps for her daughter, who is never to come back. Her
heart bleeds to death. The Court Jester is now free to leave the White Court.
Eighth Scene: Gypsies
Singing and saying their ancient healing prayers, Gypsies bring a ceremonial fire to the country, thus
cleansing it of all its evil.
Ninth Scene: The Living Water
The Living Water in the hands of the Tenth is a symbol of a new life.
Tenth Scene: The Tenth
The Tenth Daughter bids farewell to her suffering and sets off for a white bramble flower as the Tenth.
Kaja Novosel