what did you do?

Last week I had a public discussion with Michael Pinchbeck about dramaturgy and choreography as part of The Place’s Summer House Socials. Michael and I had a good time swapping reading and writing beforehand (although it mostly went downstream to me), and the day after Michael sent this:

I would have also told a story about how the French film director Godard went to the cinema with a friend and when they came out the friend said ‘That was terrible’ to which Godard replied ‘What did you do to make it better?’ I think there is something in this in terms of the dramaturge’s role. We are there to make it better.

This question of responsibility when watching dance and performance is fundamental.