The Theatre of Thomas Ostermeier
- Submitting institution
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The Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- PBOE1
- Type
- B - Edited book
- DOI
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10.4324/9781315690810
- Publisher
- Routledge
- ISBN
- 9781315690810
- Open access status
- -
- Month of publication
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- Year of publication
- 2016
- URL
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- Supplementary information
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- Request cross-referral to
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- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
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- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
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- Research group(s)
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- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- ‘The Theatre of Thomas Ostermeier’ is a 118,000-word companion on the German theatre director authored by Boenisch together with Ostermeier himself. It shares original insights into the director’s artistic method that innovatively combines approaches by Stanislavsky and Brecht with new impulses from contemporary psychology and neuroscience.
The study culminated from a two-year planning phase leading into a sustained three-year research period (supported by British Academy-Leverhulme Trust funding), undertaken (in intermittent periods) on site at Ostermeier’s Schaubühne theatre in Berlin. In order to generate in-depth understanding and critical analysis of the director’s artistic method, the process of investigation — designed and led by Boenisch — included shadowing Ostermeier’s work (following the rehearsal periods of four productions in full, observing his teaching at the Ernst Busch Theatre Academy and in workshops), attending international tour performances of one production in the UK, Italy and Greece, and conducting a series of repeat interviews over 3 years with actors and other artistic collaborators, while also establishing and maintaining an ongoing dialogue with Ostermeier himself.
Boenisch single-authored the 5,750-word introduction. The book’s core section on the directing method (28,000 words) was co-authored based on structured interviews and conversations with Ostermeier led, transcribed and edited by Boenisch, then redacted by Ostermeier. Five further chapters (16,500 words) that bring into the public domain material by Ostermeier’s key collaborators were similarly collated by Boenisch, based on interviews and meetings.
Boenisch also produced two production documentations (23,350 + 16,300 words), which make available primary production sources such as sketches, modelboxes, directors’ books, rehearsal notes, unpublished rehearsal and production photos. He further selected, translated into English, and contextualised with introductions and footnotes 21,650 words of Ostermeier’s own previously published writings, and compiled a 4,000-word annotated record of Ostermeier’s productions to date.
- Author contribution statement
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- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
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