- Marszałkowska 8
- Workshop
What could an adaptation of a classic be today?
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When?
7-8 December
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Where?
Deutsches Theater Berlin, Schumannstraße 13a
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Led by
Michał Borczuch
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Registration
otten@deutschestheater.de
About workshop
The workshop starts with the presentation of three examples of my recent performance The Magic Mountain at TR Warszawa. Based on the premise that adaptation involves creating a new work, I will demonstrate and explain my working method, focusing on how a completely new stage script can emerge from unexpected associations with the motives and structure of a novel. The aim is not to be guided by the adapted text, but rather to transform it in a way that diverges significantly from the original.
During the workshop we’ll employ unconventional and non-obvious tools in adapting classic prose for the stage. By examining fragments of Thomas Mann’s novel and integrating visual arts, documentary recordings, pure intuition, distant associations, and echoes of current reality, we’ll explore new paths of interpretation.
Schedule
DAY 1:
- Presentation of three episodes from The magic mountain performance (X-ray
examination; Hans gets lost in a blizzard; Hans listening to the music / spiritist
séance), along with an explanation of how the final stage decisions were made.
- Reading and discussing three different episodes from the book with the participants.
- Group work on selected episodes.
- Group discussion.
DAY 2: - Participants will expand the adapted episodes through video research conducted in
and around the Deutsches Theater (recordings made with own phones). - Group presentations (video tech. needed to collect recordings and display them on
TV/projector). - Further research on three episodes from Mann’s novel.
- Group discussion.
The workshop will be conducted in English and is open to students of theater (directors, actors, writers, dramaturgs), as well as students of visual and performing arts. There is no pre-selection process or limit on the number of participants.
