Robert Lepages Scenographic Dramaturgy

This book theorizes auteur Robert Lepages scenography-based approach to adapting canonical texts. Lepages technique is defined here as scenographic dramaturgy, a process and product that de-privileges dramatic text and relies instead on evocative, visual performance and intercultural collaboration to re-envision extant plays and operas. Following a detailed analysis of Lepages adaptive process and its place in the continuum of scenic writing and auteur theatre, this book features four case studies charting the role of Lepages scenographic dramaturgy in re-writing extant texts, including Shakespeares Tempest on Huron-Wendat territory, Stravinskys Nightingale in a twenty-seven ton pool, and Wagners Ring cycle via the infamous, sixteen-million-dollar Metropolitan Opera production. The final case study offers the first interrogation of Lepages twenty-first century auto-adaptations of his own seminal texts, The Dragons Trilogy and Needles & Opium. Though aimed at academic readers, this book will also appeal to practitioners given its focus on performance-making, adaptation and intercultural collaboration.