Diss. : Philosophische Fakultät : Zürich : 1982. - Bibliogr. [10] p. -

This research-creation thesis describes and analyzes the dramaturgical methodologies of verbatim theatre – a form of documentary theatre that uses transcripts as the dominant source of its dialogue – through the practical exercise of play writing. This paper marks the theoretical component of my thesis, which analyzes both the dramaturgical process and the historical context of my play Exhibit A. Using verbatim transcripts from legal evidence for its dialogue, the play examines the psychology of two teenage boys responsible for the brutal rape and murder of an 18-year-old Canadian woman in 2010. As documentary theatre emphasizes socio-political themes, this thesis considers the dramaturgical, aesthetic, and ethical considerations of verbatim theatre through my experience as a playwright and researcher. Acknowledging both the historical antecedents of documentary theatre and its contemporary examples, this thesis will define an original typology of verbatim theatre entitled the “Subcategories of Verbatim Theatre”. These subcategories are identified as Tribunal, Literary, Historical Drama, Expository and Participatory. Each privileges different types and usages of documents, which are further defined as being primarily related to “text” or “aural” based testimony. The thesis relates the dramaturgical principles of each subcategory to artistic choices made in Exhibit A. A description of the various incarnations of verbatim and documentary theatre, as well as an analysis of my experience as a documentary playwright examines the dramatic representation of reality as highly constructed in this form of theatre where the selection and editing of a documentary play's archive is a creative process that is not dissimilar from the creation of fictional drama. In that sense, the documentary genre can be said to present a dramatic representation of the playwright's subjective version of the truth. Exhibit A thus stands as my creative reconstruction of the evidence presented in the Kimberly Proctor murder trial.

Zugl.: Nijmegen, Radboud Univ., Diss., 2009

(Anglicky) This diploma thesis conducts a survey of dramatic and theatre work of contemporary German dramatist and director Falk Richter (born 1969) in the context of German political theatre of 20th century, thus primarily Brecht and Piscator tradition. At the same time, the concepts of political and post-dramatic theatre are defined and elaborated. The work points out that the current political function of theatre and its chance to directly influence social reality is understood differently than in the case of both pre-war and post-war epic drama by Erwin Piscator and Bertolt Brecht, or in the documentary drama of the 1960s. The key goal of the thesis is to analyze and interpret chosen Richter's dramatic writings and mainly the project Trust, which was created in collaboration with Dutch choreographer Anouk van Dijk. The project can be perceived as a current form of Richter's poetry, which gradually deviates from the "drama" theatre and inclines to motion drama with dance and performance elements. It is showed how the authors deal with present social and personal issues, which are transformed into theatre expression, motion and dance. At last, the thesis examines in what consists the politics of this project.