Throughout 2020, dance & theatre dramaturg Ruth Little has been taking part in the University of Melbourne’s Macgeorge Fellowship program. Now, she join us for an insightful conversation on the craft of dramaturgy with MTC Literary Director Chris Mead.
Ruth Little’s work has encompassed national arts organisations, remote rural communities, site-specific production and large and small-scale exhibitions and expeditions.
She was literary manager at Out of Joint, Soho Theatre, the Young Vic and the Royal Court. From 2010 to 2016, Little was associate director at Cape Farewell and is currently dramaturg with Akram Khan Company.
Winner of the 2012 Kenneth Tynan Award for dramaturgy, she has also worked with Banff Arts Centre, Sadlers Wells, English National Ballet, Northern Ballet, Spitalfields Festival, the Barbican, National Theatre Connections, Fuel Theatre, Siobhan Davies Dance, Dance Umbrella, and many others.
Over the last ten years Little has begun to re-calibrate the practices and languages we use to cohere performances and to re-make notions of dramaturgy, the theoretical and practical interface between bodies, ideas, stories and an audience. A craft-skill like any other, her work is renowned internationally for its audacity, deep-thinking and practical application.
During this conversation, Ruth Little spoke with MTC Literary Director Chris Mead about making a life in-between scripts, working in the varied worlds of theatre companies and dance studios, and the art of dramaturgy.
Published on 21 December 2020
