Following the Score
Following the Score (Book)
The Ravel Trilogy
This book is a critical frame for a body of devised work that toured extensively nationally and internationally, The Ravel Trilogy. The three performances, Bolero (2014), Concerto (2016) and Solo (2018), set out to explore the dramaturgy of music and the musicality of drama. The playtexts are framed alongside reflective essays. 49 b&w illus.
Edition
Based on a recent touring project, The Ravel Trilogy, this title comprises playtexts and essays that contextualise the themes and approaches of the devised work: Bolero (2014), Concerto (2016) and Solo (2018). The book takes an interdisciplinary critical enquiry into the working dramaturgy of performance ‘scores’ inspired by the music.
The book frames the playtexts of the trilogy alongside a series of reflective essays and provocations on contemporary dramaturgy and musicology from academics and artists in drama, music, linguistics and fine art. It contextualises themes and approaches of the trilogy and serves as a critical companion to a body of devised work. It stimulates a debate about dramaturgy and composition and invites discussion about postdramatic theatre's relationship to music.
This publication marks the culmination of the trilogy and its critical legacy and explores the work through the dual lenses of postdramatic theatre and research questions articulated and addressed by the practice-research undertaken by its co-creators. The dramaturgical context for The Ravel Trilogy and the reflective essays around it allow the editors to explore the relationship between theatre and music.
It raises questions about practice-research and notions of creating playtexts from musical scores. Pinchbeck and Smith reflect on making and performing The Ravel Trilogy and the process of researching, devising and presenting work inspired by music where score becomes script and dynamics become stage directions.
Michael Pinchbeck is Professor of Theatre and Senior Research Lead for the Department of Art & Performance at Manchester Metropolitan University, UK. He is a writer and theatre maker based in Nottingham and has toured extensively. His research explores dramaturgy, scores, practice-as-research and the performance of commemoration.
Ollie Smith is a contemporary performance maker based in Nottingham, and a Lecturer in Drama and Theatre at the University of Lincoln, UK, specialising in collaborative devised theatre and live art practices. He works cross-discipline, his practice exploring themes of self and persona, relationships and (mis)communication, social contracts and isolation.
List of Figures
Preface
Foreword: One Thing and Another: Notes on Pinchbeck & Smith’s The Ravel Trilogy
Alexander Kelly
1. The Exposition
Michael Pinchbeck and Ollie Smith
2. The Development
Michael Pinchbeck and Ollie Smith
3. Bolero
4. Bolero: A Matter of Language
Arianna Maiorani
5. Concerto
6. A Score of a Score of a Score: Examining Concerto Through Ravel’s Composition
Kevin Egan
7. ‘Breathe with Your Arms’: A Conductor’s Experience Working on Concerto
Paul Jenkins
8. Solo
9. Enhancing Embodied Music Cognition Through Music Theatre, with Particular Reference to Solo by Michael Pinchbeck and Ollie Smith
Litha Efthymiou and Alan Taylor
10. Conducting and Composing, Poco a Poco: How We Are Moved Through the Immersive, Theatrical Experience Machine of Solo
Rachel Baynton
11. Solo, Concerto, and Current Approaches to Presenting Classical Music
Adrian Curtin
12. Tutti – We Can Complete It Together
Rhiannon Jones
13. Afterword: The Recapitulation
Michael Pinchbeck and Ollie Smith
Notes on Contributors
