Postdramatic methods of adaptation in the age of digital collaborative writing ...... Thomas Crombez University of Antwerp, Antwerp Edith Cassiers University of Antwerp, Antwerp and Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels ...... Abstract The aim of our contribution is to shed light on the artistic process of theatrical adaption from a novel to a theatre script and, eventually, to the stage. Our example comes from contemporary European theatre: the production of Die Bru¨der Karamasow (The Brothers Karamasow) by Luk Perceval at the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, based on Dostoevsky’s eponymous novel (2013). We use digital text analysis and visualization to analyze the genesis of an adaptation. Our analysis is mainly based on a large set of different versions of the playtext. We visualize the working process during the nine-month process of adaptation and Correspondence: rehearsal. By automatically calculating and comparing the textual differences Thomas Crombez, between each two subsequent versions, both stages of thorough revision and Universiteit Antwerpen, superficial text changes can be identified. We supplement this analysis with Prinsstraat 13, S.D.216, B-2000 Antwerpen, Belgium. information on the working process given by Perceval himself during a recent E-mail: interview in Hamburg, and with research on his previous methods of adaptation, [email protected] using the archives of his original Flemish company Blauwe Maandag Compagnie......
1 Introduction the computer. What Cunningham (1994) has called ‘personal digital archives’ arise, a hybrid The aim of our contribution is to examine the chan- collection of both traditional paper-based materials ging mediality of contemporary working methods in as well as computer storage media. Moreover, with the artistic process of theatrical adaptation. The rise the rise of the Internet, the phenomenon ‘cloud to prominence of digital text and online workflows computing’ comes into being and blends increas- now allows the almost effortless archiving of prelim- ingly fast with the creative process.1 inary drafts and early versions. Since the 1980s, the These changes demand a shift in the researcher’s computer has been the ‘dominant writing technol- approach. It is quite doable to compare multiple ogy’ for many, including authors of poetry, prose, handwritten or typescript versions of a single theatrical and drama (Kirschenbaum et al., 2009). The result is adaptation. But what to do when tens or even hun- that more and more texts are ‘born-digital’: they are dreds of digital versions are available, that each repre- composed, edited, and circulated on and through sent a specific day and time of the working process?
Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2017. ß The Author 2015. Published by Oxford University 17 Press on behalf of EADH. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: [email protected] doi:10.1093/llc/fqv054 Advance Access published on 10 October 2015 T. Crombez and E. Cassiers
The methodology we chose for tackling this prob- his present approach. Next, these recent changes lem reflects the recent changes that digital tools have are studied in a two-part analysis. In the first part, brought to the practice of theatre artists. The emer- we visualize the different versions in order to bring gent field of digital humanities offers new instru- out the rhythm of the working process. The exam- ments, such as digital text analysis and ination on the macro-level is, secondly, followed by visualization, to help examine the genesis of a text a microanalysis in order to identify crucial moments that is available in a large number of digital versions of the writing process and conspicuous text modi- (for example, Beckett, 2011). Although these meth- fications. As will become evident from our macro- ods have proven to be successful in the analysis of the level and micro-level analysis, both approaches textual creative process of writers, the analysis of an bring different aspects of the artistic process to the adaptation process in a theatrical practice has, until foreground. In what follows, we will examine how now, much less been studied. Our case study comes these two methods may complement each other and from contemporary European theatre. In April 2013, what can and cannot be uncovered. Die Bru¨der Karamasow (The Brothers Karamazov), a German adaptation of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s eponymous 1867 novel, premiered at the Thalia 2 Postdramatic Methods Theatre in Hamburg, directed by Flemish theatre of Writing and Adaptation artist Luk Perceval. In this essay, we would like to investigate the use A fundamental characteristic of postdramatic of digital text writing in the theatrical adaptation theatre appears to be the shift in the conventional process. The main question of our contribution is hierarchy of drama text and performance. No longer to study the consequences for artists.Wewillexamine the drama is seen as the pre-text for, and the origin how Perceval and his collaborator Susanne Meister of, a theatrical performance. On the contrary, the approached the task of adapting the Dostoyevsky text spoken on the stage—or projected, or written novel for the stage. How does the use of digital text by hand, or shown in a mechanical way—seems to writing influence both the resulting text as well as the be only one part of a larger theatrical whole.3 In rehearsal process, and vice versa? In the second place, Lehmann’s own words: ‘In postdramatic forms of we want to investigate the consequences for re- theatre, staged text (if text is staged) is merely a searchers. What research possibilities and difficulties component with equal rights in a gestic, musical, arise with digital text writing and archiving? How to visual, etc., total composition’ (2006). handle the hybrid status of these born-digital collec- This approach extends the range of potential ‘the- tions, the coexistence of electronic objects with more atrical texts’ significantly. Not only dramas, but also traditional forms of archival content? These questions diaries, essays, screenplays, and novels qualify as ‘pre- will also be discussed below, although they are here of text’ for a production. Text is thus approached ‘as secondary importance. basic material only’ (Lehmann, 2006). Obviously, Regarding the structure of our essay, the first part adaptation will then play an increasingly important provides the background concerning ‘postdramatic’ role in the postdramatic work process. In his book, methods of adaptation in general, and those of Luk Lehmann himself devotes little attention to such pro- Perceval in particular. The expression comes from cesses. However, a plausible hypothesis is that the Hans-Thies Lehmann’s seminal work Postdramatic artistic methods will differ equally fundamentally Theatre, which has started to function (since its from classical rehearsal methods, as the resulting publication in 1999) as an exhaustive and even productions are different. Here, too, we can expect canonical overview of the experimental performing ‘ambiguity [...]; discontinuity; heterogeneity; arts from the ‘post-avant-garde’ period of the 20th non-textuality; pluralism; multiple codes; subversion century’s last three decades.2 We focus first on [...]; performer as theme and protagonist; deform- Perceval’s previous (non-digital) methods. This is ation [...]; deconstruction; considering text to be necessary in order to understand the changes in authoritarian and archaic’ (Lehmann, 2006).
18 Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2017 Inside the adaptation room
We can furthermore see that these adaptation be made to the drama text after the first perform- processes are often intertwined with the uses of ance. Nonetheless, this linear model, starting with new media. Lehmann coupled the emergence of the creation of the drama text, is almost exclusively the postdramatic aesthetics not only with a devalu- followed in the dramatic creative process. A creative ation of the dramatic text, but also with the caesura process of postdramatic theatre, in contrast, has a less produced by the new media society (2006). Partly linear development. If a text is used, it is often because of the decrease of the importance of the (re)written and/or (re)created during the rehearsal dramatic text—and in that sense the implied process through cutting, sampling, copy/paste, mon- medial carrier of notes and text and language— tage, and so on. Hence, less linear methods are used. and partly because of the increase of multi- and In particular, new media lend themselves better to intermedial use within postdramatic theatre, the these ways of writing, for example via techniques of writing, adapting, and creative processes are montage. We will come across some examples when influenced by the technical and new-medial we look at the adaptation strategies of Luk Perceval. developments. Email, blogs, social networking, photo sharing, and other network-centric services become a not to 3 The Adaptation Strategies be underestimated part of the creative process. The of Luk Perceval Internet has created a publication platform for both the actual work as well as for the surrounding ‘extra- The Belgian director Luk Perceval (b. 1957) is an literal discourse’. Additionally, these services facilitate excellent case study to examine this topic in greater the creative process, as they offer technical and com- detail. Perceval left his mark on contemporary municational assistance (for example, certain cloud Flemish theatre, first with the company he helped storage and transfer websites, as Dropbox and establish (Blauwe Maandag Compagnie, 1984–98), WeTransfer), as well as new forms of inspirational and then as the artistic director of the Antwerp mu- input (for example, image-sharing networks such as nicipal theatre Het Toneelhuis (1998–2005). At pre- Instagram or Pinterest). The emergence of the sent, Perceval works mainly in Germany, where he is Internet formed an important wave of the ‘pictorial artistic director of the Thalia Theatre in Hamburg. turn’ (Mitchell, 1994) as an unfathomable archive of Perceval is always closely involved in the images and visual impulses, and thus services the (re)writing process of the play, or text, that he is ‘visual narrative’ on the postdramatic stage. going to produce. Although he often works with a These tendencies are also adopted by creators of co-author, he will never outsource the process of dramatic theatre, but seem to be especially popular adaptation. From the start of his career, Perceval among postdramatic theatre makers. The hybrid pioneered what would become a staple of many of and fragmentary way of working through cloud the theatre artists of the ‘Flemish Wave’, namely the computing seems to be a fertile soil for postdramatic appropriation of classical texts through sampling methods of writing, adapting, and creating in gen- and montage. Perceval, freed from sanctity, boldly eral. The creative processes of dramatic theatre often edits and breaks open classical dramatic texts, and develop in a linear fashion. The author’s writing brings them closer to the spectator’s and actor’s own process produces a dramatic text that forms the environment by filling them with improvizations. starting point of the rehearsal period, in which the He tries to make the text as transparent as possible, director and actors attempt to transpose this text retaining only the most necessary parts. His dra- from the page to the stage. Finally, the actual matic texts are transformed into ‘scenarios’, or performances take place. Of course, this process heavily truncated scripts that are open to change becomes more complicated through feedback until the opening night. Even during performances, loops, as Gre´sillon and Thomasseau (2005) state in the text can still change. Geert Somers labelled this as their article on theatrical genesis. A director can give an ‘open dramaturgy’—in contrast to the on-going an author input to rewrite the text. Or changes can dramaturgy that came into existence in the study
Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2017 19 T. Crombez and E. Cassiers room and where the actions of the director and the of that time’ (Perceval, 2009). Especially, this third actors ran parallel with the intentions of the writer reason is interesting, because it suggests that (1986). Interestingly, this bold (re)writing process of Perceval consciously tries to translate cinematic cut and paste that came into being during the 80s in qualities into the theatrical medium, thus creating Flanders, has become the current writing practice. different ‘medial layers’. The transposition of these Sampling now belongs to the genetic material of a cinematic characteristics also influenced the (postdramatic) dramatist (Sels, 2005). (re)writing of the dramatic text. The majority of Perceval’s productions concern We will focus on just one example to elucidate adaptations of classic drama texts. Much less often this cinematic influence as well as the pre-digital has he chosen to adapt a novel for the stage. This is approach of Perceval to textual adaptation. An different from other postdramatic directors, who exemplary case is Ten Oorlog (To War), a large- often choose to work with novelistic texts, such as scale Shakespeare production, which was created Klaus Michael Gru¨ber (adapting, for instance, the during a 4-year process of adaptation by author novella Rudi by Bernhard von Brentano), Romeo Tom Lanoye, and director Perceval (1993–97). Castellucci (adapting Louis-Ferdinand Ce´line’s First, the authors distilled a clear synopsis out of Voyage au bout de la nuit), or Guy Cassiers, the the eight plays of William Shakespeare known as current artistic director of Het Toneelhuis, who the ‘Wars of the Roses’ cycle. Perceval then used often works on modernist novelists such as Marcel scissors and tape while reading the Dutch transla- Proust or Robert Musil. tion of Willy Courteaux. Clippings of unused text A second contrast to other postdramatic artists is fragments landed in the bin. His favourite passages that Perceval rarely uses video projections on stage. were pasted into a new structure, based on his own For him, video can only function as an instrument dramaturgical insights. During the cut-and-paste in the process of adapting the source text. From the stage, Perceval (1995) wrote to Lanoye: ‘The final beginning of his career, Perceval would make video translation should meet the truncated, often fast registrations of the rehearsals of a play, edit the foot- way of editing film. That should lead to a pleasant, age at night, and show this the following day during dynamic and differentiated rhythm’. He edits his the next rehearsal. This endless process of filming texts as he edits his video recordings. The text, in and editing serves several functions. First of all, other words, is to be treated as a reel of film. Perceval creates a feedback loop between the video Research in the archives of Blauwe Maandag recordings and the live action on stage. The edited Compagnie shows that Perceval from the outset footage is, secondly, used as a communication tool was an early adopter of digital media. The ‘ana- while directing the actors. With the (edited) record- logue’ method of text editing (rewriting text by ings, Perceval can show exactly what he does or does hand, editing with scissors and glue) is partly not want, without resorting to (often vague) in- replaced by computers with text processing soft- structions. Perceval claims that ‘language is always ware. This also allows for the easier circulation of a detour and there is often noise that disturbs the text versions among the collaborators via diskettes, interpretation of the message. A camera on the and later via flash drives or e-mail. Today, Perceval other hand, is straightforward and objective in its makes active use of the web-based file hosting registration’ (Perceval cited in Sels, 2005). Thirdly, service Dropbox, to share consecutive new versions video allows Perceval to articulate his dissatisfaction during the preparation and rehearsal of a production. with the classical conventions of theatricality. In addition, he shares inspirational images, work in Growing up with cinema, Perceval and his gener- progress, and reflections through a blog and a web- ation became inspired by the American Actors site.4 What impact do these new instruments have on Studio, captivated by the camera that ‘was so close his working process? Are they only incremental im- to the actor and was able to show the actor in such provements in a method he had already developed an authentic and truthful manner, which was greatly before, with the cut-and-paste approach of Ten at odds with the declamatory and distancing theatre oorlog? Or is there also a ‘qualitative’ shift, when
20 Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2017 Inside the adaptation room edits can be made in real-time, and instantly com- During the process of adapting Dostoyevsky’s municated to all collaborators? novel, which took place over a period of 9 In order to answer these questions, the next months, Perceval and his dramaturge Susanne section examines the digital history of a recent pro- Meister reduced the translation by Swetlana Geier duction, namely, the stage adaptation of The Brothers to ninety pages of theatre script. In several inter- Karamazov that Perceval wrote (together with views, Perceval emphasized how he wanted to con- Susanne Meister) and directed for Thalia Theatre in dense the story to its essence, and get rid of all the spring of 2013. From the previous section, we unnecessary ballast.5 keep a number of keywords in mind, which are char- Despite the many efforts to adapt his novels for acteristic of his approach: the use of video during the stage, Dostoyevsky himself did not believe that rehearsals as a form of ‘notation’; the intimate in- they could be successful. In 1872, he wrote to volvement of the director in the process of adapting Princess Varvara Dmitrievna Obolenskaya, who the text, which is usually a process that goes through had asked for permission to translate Crime and several different versions; and finally the drastic Punishment for the stage: choice for cutting up and reworking classical texts. Regarding your intention to extract a play from my novel, of course I give permission, and as a rule I have never interfered with such efforts. 4 Adapting Dostoyevsky ButImusttellyouthatalmostallsuchefforts have failed, at least as a whole. There is a mys- In 2012, Perceval chose to bring the nearly 1,200- tery in art by which the epic form never finds a page epic The Brothers Karamazov to the stage. His correspondence in the dramatic. I even believe production, opening in April 2013, would create a that each art form corresponds to a series of ‘landscape’ for the universe of Dostoyevsky, both in poetic thoughts, so that one idea cannot be ex- how he staged the text as well as in how he shaped pressed in another non-corresponding form. the theatrical space. In order to visualize the context (Quoted in Burry, 2011) of his approach to the adaptation process, it is useful to take a brief look at the production details. Dostoyevsky scholars Ilinca Tamara Todorut and The set design, by Annette Kurz, consisted of an Alexander Burry agree that the novelist, in this open space in which 100 steel pipes were hanging quotation, gives evidence of a certain medial aware- from the ceiling. The tubes were gently rocking back ness. His novels are impossible to adapt because and forth through the course of the piece, occasion- their ‘poetic idea’ is simultaneously bound to, as ally referring to the bells in a cathedral, but also well as brought to life by, the structural and forming the target for the physical aggression of formal properties of the medium of the novel. The one character’s furious outburst. Often, actors ap- books are so difficult to adapt because of the dozens peared that neither had lines to speak in the current of characters and the infinite accumulation of inci- scene, nor were they fulfilling a different function. dents and episodes that are all seemingly placed on Frequently did these observational characters fea- the same level, and correspond to each other in ture in the next scene, but not always. Most scenes various ways. In the same letter, Dostoyevsky never- began and ended in medias res. Perceval had created theless gives another piece of dramaturgical advice: a landscape of different ‘footpaths’, with each path It is another matter if you rework and change standing for a different character, scene, or voice. the novel thoroughly, selecting only one epi- The character of Alyosha formed the stoic centre of sode to rework into drama, or if you take the that complex labyrinth landscape. As the play’s original idea and change the plot completely. main character, believing in God, love, and life, he (Quoted in Burry, 2011) was almost always present on stage, often in the eye of the storm, watching the devastating events take Since it is impossible to translate the complicated place around him. and extensive operations to the stage, it is best to
Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2017 21 T. Crombez and E. Cassiers select a few episodes, in order to eliminate some of drama can be multileveled, but cannot contain mul- the problems of time and space. Todorut confirms tiple worlds’ (1993). Todurot has rightly pointed that this technique has been used regularly in adap- out that the theatre has evolved since Bakhtin’s tations of Dostoyevsky. Thus, the ‘Legend of the book, and is no longer tied to a linear plot or Grand Inquisitor’ from The Brothers Karamazov is single narrative perspective. Several features of a very popular episode, which has been adapted by Dostoevsky’s novels are thus, according to Peter Brook, Patrice Chereau, and Kama Ginkas. Todorut, in accordance with Hans-Thies Dostoyevsky’s second suggestion, to keep the Lehmann’s notion of postdramatic theatre: a non- (poetic) idea but change the subject, is less clear. hierarchical plurality of voices, simultaneous events, Todorut paraphrases Richard Gilman, who stated a panoramic expression of space, and a decline in that the adaptation of a novel to the stage demanded the importance of the (textual) narrative. Lehmann a radical structural change, particularly because the describes the ‘textscape’ of postdramatic theatre as monologue form of the novel needs to be translated an ‘embodied text’ where ‘a polyphony rather than a into a dramatic, dialogic narrative (Todorut, 2012). dialogue develops: the individual speakers contrib- In Dostoyevsky’s novels, however, there are already ute only stanzas, so to speak, to a collective chorus’ many lively dialogues. The narrator is also one of (2006). Perceval will use this idea of ‘landscape’ in the many characters. Hence, the (implied) author his adaptation. Before we go deeper into the changes comes to stand on the same level as the other fic- in content and form to the source text, we will first tional voices. perform a macroanalysis of the adaptation and re- According to Todorut, it is especially attractive to hearsal process, using digital text analysis to visua- use the literary theorist Mikhail Bakhtin’s conceptual lize the rhythm of the (re)writing of the play text. framework to look at adaptations of Dostoyevsky, because this clearly brings out ‘why only a post- Aristotelian theater can get close to Dostoyevsky’ 5 Die Bru¨der Karamasow: (2012). In Problems of Dostoyevsky’s Poetics (1929), Macroanalysis Bakhtin had emphasized the hitherto underexposed structural aspects of Dostoyevsky’s vision. In his Perceval gave us access to all of the digital working view, ‘the plurality of independent and unmerged materials of Die Bru¨der Karamasow. The most im- voices and consciousness and the genuine polyph- portant part of this digital archive is a large set of ony of full-valued voices’ constitute the essence of different versions of the play text, dated between 7 Dostoyevsky’s novels (1993). His polyphonic works August 2012 and 29 April 2013, which were archived are a patchwork of different styles, tones, and genres, on an almost daily basis, and shared between the in which the plot invariably has only a secondary collaborators using Dropbox. Perceval (2013) sees importance. Instead of a plot, a ‘narrative texture’ the theatre text as ‘open until the performance’, or full of contradictions is created, in which each char- as a ‘piece of clay’ molded during rehearsals. Both acter embodies an opposite ideology. his rehearsal process as well as his adaptation pro- Dialogue is the basic structural element in cess are characterized by slowness. In an interview, Dostoyevsky’s work, which makes his novels ‘bril- Perceval says that he ‘doesn’t try to reach perfection liantly staged dialogues’ and with a ‘strong inclin- through constant refining, but I continually circle ation to the dramatic form’, according to Bakhtin around the goal I want to achieve, until—after many and Emerson (1993). The narrative is distributed attempts—I finally reach it’ (Perceval, 2013). The over various locations, but much less in time, text is tested through trial and error. The perform- which clearly emphasizes simultaneity and inter- ance comes into existence within and because of the action. Nevertheless, Bakhtin believes just like rehearsals. The end product is, in Perceval own Dostoyevsky that these novels cannot be adapted words, a ‘collective responsibility’ and thus the for the stage. He states that ‘the drama is by result of ‘on-going negotiations’ between director nature alien to genuine polyphony [...]; the and actor, and between the mutual actors. New
22 Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2017 Inside the adaptation room media can support the instant response to ‘negoti- of the word: either deleted, replaced, or added) ations’ or other discoveries during the rehearsal pro- (Navarro, 2001). Our choice of software was based cess. During rehearsals, the text is for example often on pragmatic motives, since it was not our intention edited live by projecting it on a wall of the stage, so to compare different tools or algorithms. For the the actors can immediately work with the new text. purposes of macroanalysis, we selected a text com- Overall, we can witness that the integration of parison tool that could compute edit distance effi- new media has fastened the work process and cre- ciently, and that would moreover allow a simple ated the ability to share it with more people. In this visualization of textual differences between distinct example, digital text editing replaces a previous, versions. We looked at existing collation software, slower method of text editing, in which Perceval such as CollateX and Juxta, but found that these cut the text to pieces with scissors, and then tools focused more on textual variance than edit pasted the passages he wanted to retain in the pre- distance (Dekker and Middell, 2011). On the other ferred order. We witness the same movement in his hand, the diff_match_patch library by Neil Fraser use of collages as inspiration. In the 1980s, he allows computing the Levenshtein edit distance be- manually made collages of pictures using glue and tween two texts (the minimum number of edits to scissors, while he now uses a Tumblr photo blog change the first version to the second, by means of that enables him to make larger collages in a smaller inserting, deleting, or substituting characters) amount of time, as well as the possibility to com- quickly and easily. Additionally, it outputs detailed, municate these inspirational snippets to all his HTML-formatted visualizations of textual differ- followers, both colleagues and collaborators, as ences.6 The diff_match_patch library implements well as audience members. the Myers diff algorithm, which is very effective at In the following subsection, we will first perform computing the shortest edit script for transforming a macroanalysis of the adaptation and rehearsal pro- one version of a text into another (Myers, 1986). cess, using digital text analysis to visualize the dif- Applying this method to the many different ver- ferences between subsequent versions of the play sions of Die Bru¨der Karamasow, the result is a list of text. On the basis of 125 distinct text versions numbers that may be compared in order to identify from the digital archive, we were able to chart the both writing stages of thorough revision and super- working process during the 9-month process of ficial text changes. Let us survey the resulting calen- adaptation and rehearsal. The 125 text files that dar of the writing process. On 7 August 2012, there we received from the archive of Luk Perceval con- was not yet any text belonging to the final play text. stitute both full and partial versions of the text. For In the digital archive, there is an ebook file of Die practical purposes, we selected only the eighty-eight Bru¨der Karamasow, in the most recent German trans- full versions. Next, we used text comparison soft- lation by Swetlana Geier (2003). This document ware to compare each pair of subsequent versions. numbers 369,304 words. The first version of the Mostly, the compared versions are one day apart adaptation by Susanne Meister and Luk Perceval from each other. In some cases, especially during dates from 8 August. The last version of the adapta- the first weeks of the adaptation process, there is tion dates from 29 April 2013. It is the last version much more time between two subsequent versions. before the premiere of 30 April and, very probably, In other cases, multiple versions (up to five) have this is the text that was played on the opening night. been stored on the same day. Fig. 1 shows a calendar visualization of the text’s Text comparison software will attempt to iden- evolution during the adaptation and rehearsal pro- tify the passages that have been deleted, modified, or cess. Each bar on the diagram represents a text ver- added from/to the first version as compared to the sion. This diagram shows how the initial document second version. On the basis of this list, it will also of ca. 369,000 words is ‘converted’, through nine compute the ‘edit distance’ between the two ver- months of work, into the final performance text sions, meaning a numeric measure of the amount by Meister and Perceval, numbering a slender of characters that have been modified (in all senses 17,646 words.
Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2017 23 T. Crombez and E. Cassiers
The calendar visualization brings out the rhythm
31 of the working process: in the first months, new versions are far less frequent than during the final 30 months, when we have a new version almost every
29 day, and sometimes even multiple versions during the same day. When we inspect the files in detail, it 28 is evident that the size of the text varies more
27 strongly in the first months than it does in the
26 later months. At first, the text of the adaptation is fairly short. In December 2012, it has become much 25 longer. Then it decreases again. Afterwards, it stays
24 fairly constant. However, in the final week of the rehearsal period, the length of the text is again chan- 23 ging, as large parts are being cut in the days leading
22 up to the opening night. These are the two directions to take the macro- 21 analysis further: the rhythm of the working process, 20 and the evolutions within the text. Concerning the
19 first topic, an important help to our analysis is the fact that the digital archive has been neatly subdi- 18 vided in a number of folders, allowing us to bring 17 der Karamasow (Perceval/Meiner, August 2012 to April 2013) out the rhythm of the writing process and the re- ¨ hearsal process. Thus, we see that there are three 16 stages in the evolution of the text: 15 (1) Writing: From 8 August 2012 to 3 March 14 2013.
13 (2) Rehearsal (Probenfassungen): From 4 March 2013 to 14 April 2013. 12 (3) On-stage rehearsal (Bu¨hnenproben): From 15
11 April 2013 to 29 April 2013 (premiere on 30 April 2013). 10 It becomes clear that before the start of the re- 9 hearsals, there were less new versions of the text, but
8 per version, a larger amount of text was changed.
7 From the start of the rehearsal process, there is almost every day a new version, although with 6 only small changes. This relates to Perceval’s ‘testing
5 of the text’ during the rehearsals (cf. supra). To analyse the changes within the text, we visualize 4 the previously computed edit distances between every
3 pair of subsequent text versions (Fig. 2). These edit distances are here visualized in a different shade as a 2 proportion of the total text size of that version. As is Calendar visualization of the adaptation and rehearsal process for Die Bru 1 visually evident, most edits are quite small, even min- ug pr A Sep Oct Nov Dec Jan Mar A Feb imal: the small blocks on top of the bars are hardly Fig. 1 visible. However, a number of versions stand out
24 Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2017 Inside the adaptation room
because of the large size of the edits. On 15 February 2013, we encounter five subsequent versions in 1 day, 31 each with strong modifications when compared to the 30 previous one. On 25 April 2013, a few days before the
29 premiere, a large part of the text is modified. Such decisive moments can be studied in detail 28 through microanalysis. Again, a digital humanities
27 approach will serve as the basis for our method. Using the text comparison software mentioned 26 above, it is also possible to visualize just the differ-
25 ences between two different versions. In this method
24 of visualization (or ‘diff’)—which we have named ‘Genesi’ for the purposes of this case study—the soft- 23 ware produces a collated text in which deleted words
22 and sentences are markedupinredandhavebeen struck through, while newly added text is shown in 21 green. As Fig. 3 illustrates, the result allows the re-
20 searcher to quickly skim over the editing operations der Karamasow. The upper shaded part of the bars shows the ¨ that occurred between two versions of the same text. 19 18
17 6 Die Bru¨der Karamasow: 16 Microanalysis 15 By comparing every subsequent pair of text ver- 14 sions, we were able to distinguish between the dif-
13 ferent movements of the (re)writing process, and
12 detect the most remarkable differences between source and target text. In what follows, we will try 11 to reconstruct the course of the adaptation process.
10 We will focus on the most radical modifications of the original novel, and the transformation of the 9 Alyosha character in particular.
8 Luk Van den Dries has described the reworking process of Perceval’s first theatre company, Blauwe 7 Maandag Compagnie, as ‘very gradual and spread 6 over many versions’ (Van den Dries, 2001). In the
5 first version, the intentions of the narrative were realized, as a form of ‘direct dramaturgy’: why are 4 we performing this play, and what do we want to
3 tell? This was followed by refinements and adjust- ments, still in function of the making explicit of the 2 own narrative. With this version the rehearsals start: 1 Calendar visualization of the textual differences between subsequent versions of Die Bru different situations are tested, while leaving room ug pr A Sep Nov Feb Mar A Oct Dec Jan for improvizations, and both the characters and the proportion of the text that has been modified Fig. 2 exact formulation are outlined through playing.
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Fig. 3 The Genesi interface for visualizing textual differences computed with the diff_match_patch library (Neil Fraser)
Zooming in on the different versions of the text, The third movement commences from the it becomes clear that we can distinguish a similar moment that the book is converted in its entirety. writing process, consisting of three movements. The Now the structure becomes subject to modifica- first version did not include an adaptation of the tions. Some scenes are pushed forward or backward, entire book, but with each successive version, a and others are deleted in their entirety. As the ver- new section was turned into drama text. Only sions start piling up, the authors begin to add or with the version of 13 February 2013, the full text shift scenes and characters. One explanation may be of the novel had been adapted. that certain characters or scenes (e.g. Smerdyakov The second movement can be labelled as a sub- manipulating Ivan) proved to be more important to sequent ‘campagne d’e´criture’, or writing stage, to the overall plot of the novel than was thought in the use the term of Almuth Gre´sillon (1994). With beginning. Lise is such a character. In the book, she each new version, the previous version is revised, is already introduced in the first book, in chapter 4, abridged, and rewritten. Using ‘Genesi’, it becomes along with her mother. It is implied from the be- apparent that the rewriting operations occur by ginning that something is going on between Lise scene or by section. If a new section is added, it and Alyosha. In the theatrical version, she is only will be the subject of the most conspicuous rework- introduced on 26 December 2012. In the next ver- ings during subsequent revisions. The changes in the sions, her lines will significantly expand, although new version are thus most often limited to two the character still remains less articulated in the the- scenes, rather than across the entire text. atrical plot compared to the novel.
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Fig. 4 The introduction of Smerdyakov in Act I, Scene 4, as visualized in the Genesi interface
During the adaptation process, a particular diffi- Perceval questions such as ‘Would you like to culty for the authors seems to be when to introduce keep the Gypsy?’—a narrative element that will the villain Smerdyakov. For example, in the version not be included in the final text. of 3 March 2013, Meier protests in several comments The irregular intervals between these observa- to Perceval’s proposal to add Smerdyakov during the tions imply that they are both working together scene ‘Beim Kognackchen’ (‘While Having a and separately on the text. From the beginning of Cognac’). She not only finds it a poor introduction the rehearsal phase (March 2013), there are fewer of Smerdyakov because he is depicted as a thinker— observations, probably because they both attend the which he is not—but she also calls Dostoyevsky’s rehearsals, and one of them (usually Meister) after- story about the Jesuits boring and overly detailed. wards records the changes made to the text. (Fig. 4 illustrates how our interface for microanalysis Sometimes there is also an indication that the text visualizes the addition of Smerdyakov to this scene.) was modified during a rehearsal, for example, The genetic process of Die Bru¨der Karamasow ‘Strichvorschlag [sic], Abendprobe’ (‘suggestion for may thus be described as dialogical and dialectical. deletion, evening rehearsal’) in the version of Perceval and Meister discuss every modification of 5 March 2013. More versions are created during the text. A number of substantive discussions can be the ‘rehearsal stage’ than during the ‘writing stage’, followed through the comments that were included as mentioned in the macroanalysis. New versions in the Microsoft Word documents, literally in the appear on an almost daily basis, although with margins of the digital text. It is the place where only little changes. How the actors are able to artistic choices are being made, but also where dra- handle the text during the rehearsals is as important matic interpretations are developed. Meister asks as the dramaturgical choices made by Perceval and
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Meister during the first phase. As Van den Dries version, there is a comment by Meister suggesting to (2001) writes: ‘The contraction of the text [...] let multiple characters take over the narrator’s role, goes hand in hand with the strengthening of the but Perceval responds negatively. He finds that the acting choices’. The actors have the final word on prologue about the family’s history is a rather la- the text, and even during the performance ‘the text borious and tedious read, which he would prefer to will remain pliable to the use and needs of the mo- replace by a conflictuous beginning. Later, little by ment’. The day before the premie`re, a significant little, more family history is introduced, ‘as is the part of the text was changed, and during later per- case with Shakespeare’. The first scene of the play is formances there were still some small adjustments therefore actually the ‘Second Book’ of Dostoyevsky. made, as we notice on the video registrations. The play begins in medias res. Father Fyodor and his While Meister mostly operates according to three sons (Dmitri, Ivan and Alyosha) are on stage, Gre´sillon’s model of the writing stage (editing one waiting for the ‘starets’. Alyosha meanwhile pro- specific part over several versions, while the rest of vides the audience with some background informa- the text remains unchanged), Perceval will rather go tion that the reader already knows from the first through the entire text and add suggestions for both chapter of the First Book. He continues doing so small (e.g. grammatical) edits as well as more sub- between the raging fits of the father, thus creating stantive changes. In the next version, Meister then an effect of alienation. The audience is constantly responds to his changes. Some modifications or new reminded of the theatrical (hence artificial) framing insertions are also highlighted, so Perceval is noti- of the events that are acted out. In this way, the fied about what has changed. entire family history is told, and every character is In addition, both Perceval and Meister often introduced to the audience, which sometimes makes backtrack on changes that were previously made. a forced impression. Whereas the second version Hence, multiple text versions that have the same still features other Karamazov relatives that com- date may mislead at first: often, a modification is ment on the story these passages have been deleted made in the first version of the day, which results in from subsequent versions. Nevertheless, the other a second version, but they change it back to the characters will also break the fourth wall. When original version in the third version.7 Alyosha quotes other characters, they will speak If we look at the main substantive changes in the quoted words themselves. After he has men- more detail, the changing status of the character tioned that Lise has written him a letter, the actress Alyosha immediately stands out. The modern type playing Lise recites this letter in the present tense, as of narrative is one of the main reasons that The it was originally written. Brothers Karamazov has become so popular and Furthermore, there is an important evolution in elaborately studied. An autonomous narrator or the way narrator Alyosha refers to himself over the implied author controls the novel. He comments different text versions. At first, his position is not so often on his stories that he begins to function entirely obvious. He sometimes refers to himself as a separate character with particular traits. using the third person, and sometimes using ‘I’ Perceval and Meister deliberately choose to let the over the next versions. This aspect undergoes book’s main character, Alyosha, take over the role of many changes, until eventually Alyosha only this narrator. In the book, the narrator is respon- speaks in the first person singular. Similarly, there sible for giving additional explanations to the is some ambiguity in the tenses (both past and pre- reader, while the drama text lets Alyosha directly sent) of Alyosha’s verbs. address the audience and thereby break the fourth Alyosha himself appears to be an interesting wall. Where the (implied) author narrates the story choice to use as the main character. The (implied) of Alyosha’s life in the book, the theatrical text be- author suggests at the beginning that Alyosha is an comes a kind of autobiography. odd choice for a hero. He apparently plays only a The narrative function evolves steadily through- minor role in the story. He embodies a particular out the genetic process of the text. In the second side of the religious dilemma that forms the core of
28 Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2017 Inside the adaptation room this book. In the play, however, the importance of Reynolds, ‘an active reader (rather than) a passive his role is strongly intensified: partly because much consumer of other people’s novel images’. of the narrative in which Alyosha does not feature is The effect of this epic-dramatic narrator is that deleted, and partly because he takes the role of the the dramaturgy becomes rather ‘reflexive’, in the narrator. At the end of the writing process, Alyosha words of Peter M. Boenisch (2010). The spectators appears in nearly every scene. become aware of their own spectating and presence. Despite the presence of a narrator, it is especially By creating the epic-dramatic narrator of Alyosha, the dialogues that are adapted from the book into Perceval stages ‘the mediality of theatrical presenta- the play, and much less the narrated parts. Alyosha’s tion itself’ and deconstructs the ‘traditionally trans- tales mainly consist of descriptions. In the trans- parent act of presentation’. A tension between formation from novel to theatre text, the non- representation, presentation, and perception is cre- dialogic narrative (descriptions, comments, interior ated, thus challenging the established perception of monologue, introspection of a character’s thoughts) the canon of classic texts. While Lehmann defines the is translated and dramatized, often by putting it into difference between postdramatic and dramatic the mouth of the narrator character Alyosha. Acting theatre as ‘appearance instead of plot action’ and is thus transformed into an oscillation between the ‘performance instead of representation’, Boenisch epic and the dramatic. As Andrew Haydon (2014) breaches this antagonism by stating that in a reflexive writes in his review: ‘the actors ‘‘perform’’ the dramaturgy, ‘the appearance of plot action’ and ‘the ‘‘text’’—hanging between character and narrative, performance of representation’ is staged. The origin- as the original authorial voice does in the novel’. ally closed fictional world of these classical texts as The result of the narrator’s voice repeatedly well as the spectator’s perception is opened. The breaking the fourth wall is that of a scenic montage. traditional aesthetic attitude of ‘reception’ becomes But Alyosha’s transformation has far-reaching con- an ‘act of encounter’. The represented text is experi- sequences for the perception of the play. As Judith enced in the present materiality from ‘the inside of Graves Miller indicates, the presence of the narrator the text itself’. The activity of the theatrical spectating constantly reminds the viewer of the fictionality of becomes the dramatic action, subsequently creating a the characters (Graves, 1981). Due to the physical reflection on the theatrical medium. presence of the actors, there may indeed occur some Perceval re-evaluates the theatrical medium, not level of identification with the characters, but ultim- only by making the dramaturgy reflexive, but also ately the point of view of the play is that of the by pursuing a cinematic inspired performance. The narrator (in this case a central character). source text of Die Bru¨der Karamasow, Dostoyevsky’s Consequently, the viewer identifies primarily with novel, is already relatively cinematic in nature. the ‘actor–narrator, the personification of the nar- There is no linear plot. The story is presented in rative voice’, instead of identifying with the charac- polyphonic form, and the structure is highly frag- ter himself. Because of this connection between mented. For example, the novelist used abrupt storyteller and audience, there appears an awareness chronological transitions. In their adaptation, of the dramatic experience. The ‘translation’, ‘trans- Perceval and Meister articulate this cinematic 8 position’, or ‘adaptation’ of a text for the stage—be aspect even more strongly. They make characters it a drama text or another genre—is always a speak simultaneously, introduce asides, and reorder subjective process: the director creates his vision the chronology of the original novel. Dostoyevsky’s on a given text, so as audience we ‘see’ the story ellipsis is retained, but also flash-forwards and flash- through his eyes. By emphasizing this (always) sub- backs are used. Thus the play begins with a flash- jective nature of the performance text, Perceval forward, namely the questioning of Alyosha by the shows that ‘the point of view from which the attorney general, and ends with a flashback, namely action is observed is not the only one available’ Alyosha wondering what he would do if he had only (Reynolds, 1993). Thus creating the possibility for a few more minutes to live. Dostoyevsky’s First the spectator to become, in the words of Peter Book (about the family’s history) is fully integrated
Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2017 29 T. Crombez and E. Cassiers with the events of the Second Book. The story starts label Die Bru¨der Karamasow as a postdramatic in media res, and as it progresses, pieces of back- text-landscape, because of the manipulations of ground information are offered to the audience the chronology and continuity of events, and the (often through narrator Alyosha). identities of the different characters. Many dialogues and scenes have abrupt begin- nings and endings, without proper introductions or epilogues. In the book, every event is introduced 7 Beyond Adaptation: Inside and explained by the narrator: why two characters happen to be in the same place, what their relation- Newly Emerging Creative ship is, and how their conversation started. The play Processes has none of this. Characters immediately address each other, often without even greeting each other, Through a macro and microanalysis, we first tried and dive straight into the heart of the matter. This is to trace the effect of the digital methods that further emphasized by the style of staging. There are Perceval and Meister used for their adaptation, always a variety of characters present on the stage. and, secondly, what we as researchers can discover As one piece of dialogue is abruptly ended, another by using similar digital methods. Tom Hyry and character is already there to take the vacant place. Rachel Onuf, who have studied personal electronic As may be expected in an adaptation, a great records, claim that the media used to create or quantity of text has been deleted. The text of the record have a significant influence on the produced episodes that are selected is reduced to the essentials. content as well as on how this content is interpreted. Narrative parts are always summarized. Various ‘Much of the information formerly transmitted only characters have been removed, other have been on paper now exists only in electronic form, which merged. One of the striking choices of the adaptation has a critical impact not only on how we create and is to merge the characters of Rakitin and revise documentation, but also on how we consume Smerdyakov, who collectively become Smerdyakov. and retain it’ (Hyry and Onuf, 1997). In what fol- In one of the first versions, Perceval remarks that lows, we will elaborate on the effects of the use of he finds Rakitin a boring personality. Meister digital methods for ‘artists’ in general, as well as agrees in her comments to the subsequent version ‘researchers’, starting with the effects on the artist’s (13 September 2012), ‘because it is a purely func- working process. tional figure and does not develop in our context’. These new technologies, such as Dropbox, have Then she proposes a ‘heretical thought’: replace both ‘quantitative’ and ‘qualitative’ effects on the Rakitin by Smerdyakov, the real murderer of creative process. As we have already seen, the most Fyodor, so that the latter is already present from striking effect on the creative process is that many the beginning as ‘the evil in the background’. things can be done faster through digital methods, Whereas the book lets Rakitin suggest the crime to as for example text editing and assembling images. Alyosha, it is Smerdyakov who infiltrates Alyosha’s Furthermore, with the increased use of the com- meek head with bad thoughts in the theatrical text. puter, Perceval is able to perform these different Meister designates their amalgamation as a ‘flexible tasks at the same time, in the same place. Again, computers seem ideal for non-linear creative interpretation’, which will not prove too difficult to processes. Perceval can (re)write his dramatic text, execute. collect as well as spread inspirational images, com- The adaptation is, in short, a quite drastic pro- municate with his collaborators, and so on.9 cess of cutting up and re-assembling the already Computers have become ‘environments’, as complex narrative of the novel. Still, the polyphonic Kirschenbaum et al. (2009) state: collage of the book is not quite translated to the stage. In the novel, other literary styles are freely Computers are writing technologies, but they used, such as poetry or songs, which do not are also environments: work spaces, surrogate appear in the drama text. We can, however, still desktops that function as extensions of self. As
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computers become more and more integrated WeTransfer, etc.). ‘Paired with the Internet, CAD into our daily routines they become the site has turned theatrical design into around-the-clock for managing multiple aspects of our lives, the work that demands the designer’s almost non-stop windowed screen playing host to a manuscript attention’ (Price, 2013). During the same amount draft one moment, an email message the next, of time as before, the designer is able to do much perhaps a financial statement or a family more work—which creates higher expectations. photograph thereafter. We personalise our Nonetheless, argues Price, ‘the depth of thought computers—and to a large extent we inhabit and the complexity of the ideas communicated’ them. decrease. This is clearly noticeable in Perceval and In an interview, Perceval states that he now ‘directs Meister’s adaptation process: adjustments happen with empty hands’ (2013). In contrast to his Blauwe faster, get less ‘weight’—after all, in the next version, Maandag Compagnie period, he no longer uses the previous adjustments can be made undone notebooks, paper, and pen. Nonetheless, his as- again. Contrastingly, in our first example, Ten sumption that he walks in the rehearsal room Oorlog, we noticed more thought-out changes and ‘empty handed’, is not entirely true. His note- adaptations with a more final character, since taking medium has rather become digital, which Lanoye send a whole new version by letter or fax has its own materiality as well, according to after a longer period of time. With the rise of these Ovenden (Kirschenbaum et al., 2009). technologies, the time frame changes: there is an However, the ‘personal character’ of the use of immediacy expected. This becomes obvious when these media can be doubted, Hyry and Onuf (1997) we distinguish different versions in one day: after claim. Many electronic personal records reside on and even during rehearsals, changes need to be servers not personally owned by their users—as is adjusted immediately. the case when Perceval and his collaborators use Changes are made faster and thus less thought Dropbox or Tumblr—making the medium on through. The changes have a less final character be- which they produce and store their material not cause of the faster medium and communication— theirs or truly personal. Furthermore, the forms of they can always be made undone. Because of these communication and self-expression can be seen as endless edit possibilities, most electronic docu- impersonal, since electronic technologies often force ments, in contrast to paper documents, ‘no longer their users to employ standardized formats. The exist in a static form’, is also concluded by Hyry effect of the mediation of computer technology and Onuf (1997). This not irrevocable form of ‘pub- on, for example, graphic creativity and expressing lication’ through Google Drive, Dropbox, and other emotions, cannot be underestimated as they offer a networks makes boundaries between manuscript prescribed set of fonts and emoticons. Hyry and and published work disappear, thus problematizing Onuf’s conclusion is cynical: referring to Marshall the idea of the ‘finished text’, as other scholars have 10 McLuhan’s famous dictum that ‘the medium is the already argued (Reside, 2014). However, we could message’, they state that ‘the individual’s voice of say that in the theatrical context, this is less prob- authority (is) being undermined by the very same lematic. A drama text, more than a prose or poetry complex technologies that have been set up as tools text, is never definitive, but stays during rehearsals intended to facilitate communications, workflow and the tour, following the premie`re still subject to and creativity’. adjustments and changes. Theatrical designer Terry Price, too, states that by Because through digital methods the communica- integrating new technologies, theatre design culture tion can happen faster and easier, there is also more has ‘decreased’ in (creative) freedom and thus fun- and regular communication (compare the many brief damentally changed over the last decades. Through remarks of Perceval and Meister, with the few long online technologies, designers can draw faster (e.g. letters of Perceval and Lanoye). Due to the virtual using CAD [Computer-Aided Design] software) as nature of the communication, there can also be in- well as exchange versions faster (e.g. by Dropbox, tensively worked together over greater distances.
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Finally, through the integration of new media on the researcher to ‘skim over’ one particular feature the work floor, work processes can also become of a set of texts—in our case, the rhythm of the more transparent. By ‘sharing’ his Dropbox and editing process and the size of the edits made be- Tumblr accounts with his cast and crew, and even tween subsequent versions—much more easily. In with audience members, Perceval creates a valuable the same vein, Matthew Jockers (2013) spoke of insight in the creation of a theatre performance, ‘macroanalysis’, a term we have also adopted for definitely generating more understandings of both our working method in this essay. ‘process’ and ‘product’. However, we also showed that when working Such new working methods offer new materials with techniques from the digital humanities, both for the theatre researcher, as we have seen above. a macro- and a micro-level analysis are required. The use of digital text writing and archiving by The macroanalysis visualizes the overall rhythm of artists creates opportunities for the collection of the genetic process, where a microanalysis creates research material. One of the benefits of using insight in the how and why of this particular Dropbox and Google Drive is that (almost) every rhythm. Through a detailed comparison of different draft/version is being saved, in contrast to working text versions, we were able to detect the working in word processing software (as for example methods and problems, as well as the most con- Microsoft Word) in which authors often save over spicuous decisions and their impact. By consciously previous drafts. This ‘erasure of the creative process’ looking into the (im)possibilities of the newly used has been a significant problem for researchers of media, we can furthermore trace their effect. As 11 electronic records Cunningham (1994). Hyry and Onuf (1997) argue, authors as well as Nonetheless, some problems are also raised: first archivists should be aware of the possible change of all, dependence on networks as Google Drive and within the process and product due to the used Dropbox can also be risky, since they suddenly can medium. ‘The medium will [...] impact both con- change their policy (see also Kirschenbaum et al., text and content in complex ways’, they write. 2009) Furthermore, there is also the hybrid status of the born-digital archive as well as the analogue/ digital divide, as we have mentioned earlier. Most 8 Conclusion of the time, there is also an accompanying ‘non- digital-content’, a kind of ‘paratext’ to the digital In his book Multi-Mediated Dostoevsky, Alexander content that is less easily shared. Much research Burry affirms that the ‘preponderance of dialogue, has already been done on the archival of electronic sensational plot events, and seemingly ready-made records in which problems as these and other are theatrical ‘‘scenes’’’ in Dostoyevsky’s work created addressed, and new strategies are proposed (Cook, the presupposition within critics that he ‘actually 1994, 1997; Upwardand McKemmish, 1994; Duranti wrote plays in the form of novels’ (2011). Burry and Mac Neil, 1996; O’Shea and Roberts, 1996; nevertheless warns the optimistic dramatist: the Bantin, 1998).12 dialogues in Dostoyevsky’s novels may give the Though the ‘collection’ of research material has appearance of being easily adaptable for the stage, become more accessible, the ‘processing’ of this re- but this does not work when it is done ‘too straight- search material is less straightforward. How to deal forwardly’ (Burry, 2011). He mentions, among with a digital archive such as that of the Die Bru¨der other reasons, the absence of the novels’ narrating Karamasow writing process, which holds more than voice on the theatrical stage. Almost paraphrasing 100 different versions of the text? Digital text ana- Dostoyevsky’s letter, he advises to disrupt ‘this lysis and visualization here may help to analyse the [prose] texture considerably and add [...] genesis of a theatrical text. Moreover, such tools staging elements that turn it into a different work allow processing a large amount of text versions in entirely’. a relatively small time. Franco Moretti (2005) has Luk Perceval clearly had the intention to funda- designated this strategy as ‘distant reading’, allowing mentally rearrange the basic structure of the novel
32 Digital Scholarship in the Humanities, Vol. 32, No. 1, 2017 Inside the adaptation room in order to create a successful theatre text. As an The use of digital text writing and archiving by adherent of postdramatic poetics, he adapted artists creates opportunities for the collection of re- Dostoyevsky’s polyphonic novel The Brothers search material. On the surface, it seems easier, since Karamazow into a ‘text landscape’. To complete most of the material is gathered in one place, namely this transposition, he made a bold change by trans- the computer. Moreover, artists can be invited to forming the character Alyosha into the narrator, share their materials—as Perceval has done by allow- thus creating a reflexive theatrical experience. ing us to peek inside his Dropbox folder. Nevertheless, Perceval avidly uses the possibilities offered by digi- some problems are also raised. Depending on net- tal collaboration tools to support this seemingly worked technologies such as Google Drive or endless game of rearranging, cutting, and pasting. Dropbox can be risky. Also, the hybrid status of the As we have shown, the computer forms an ideal born-digital archive as well as the analogue/digital writing technology and even creative environment divide has to be taken into consideration. for the postdramatic author or adaptor. Perceval We are well aware that conducting only one case and Meisner used the digital file hosting service study is insufficient to come to significant conclu- Dropbox for their adaptation and thus created sions. Notwithstanding this, we believe that these more than a 100 different versions of the text. present findings show how (much) future research Franco Moretti’s (2005) strategy of ‘distant reading’ is needed on the impact of the use of digital methods, has allowed us to ‘skim over’ one particular feature of both on creative processes and on academic research. a set of texts, in this case the rhythm of the editing These digital methods seem ideal for new forms of process and the extent of the edits made between the literature and theatre (as, for example, the non- different versions. With a ‘microanalysis’ we supple- logocentric postmodernism and postdrama) and mented the ‘macroanalysis’ (Jockers, 2013) of their are thus avidly used by artists for these non-linear digitalized adaptation process. The macroanalysis creative processes. Using the same digital methods visualizes the overall rhythm of the genetic process, for the analysis of these creative processes seems to whereas a microanalysis creates insight into the how be the best approach for current academic research. and why of this particular rhythm. In this way, we However, we cannot lose sight of how these digital could trace the effect of the digital methods they have methods in turn irreversibly influence the creative as used as well as indicate what we as researchers can well as the research process and product. discover by using similar digital methods. We saw that the use of digital text writing influ- ences both the resulting text and the rehearsal pro- Funding cess, and vice versa. The most striking effect of new technologies (such as Dropbox, Tumblr....) on the This work is part of the 4-year research project ‘The creative process is the increased working speed and Didascalic Imagination: Contemporary theatrical the ability to work collaboratively as well as syn- notebooks as genetic documents of the artistic pro- chronically. However, since less time is needed to cess’ (2013–17), funded by FWO Research do the same amount of work and communication Foundation Flanders (Principal Investigator: Luk can happen faster and more regularly, higher ex- Van den Dries (University of Antwerp)). pectations have been created. The expectation is one of immediacy. This makes the depth of thought and the complexity of the ideas communicated de- References crease, and blurs the boundaries between manu- Bakhtin, M. and Emerson, C. (1993). Problems of script and published work. Nonetheless, by Dostoevsky’s Poetics. Minneapolis: University of integrating new media into the rehearsal space, Minnesota Press. work processes can become more transparent, thus Bantin, P. C. (1998). Strategies for managing electronic generating better understandings of both ‘process’ records: a new archival paradigm? An affirmation of and ‘product’. our archival traditions? Archival Issues, 23(1): 17–34.
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Beckett, S. (2011). Stirrings Still / Soubresauts and Link, F. H. (1980). Translation, Adaptation and Comment dire / what is the word: an electronic genetic Interpretation of Dramatic Texts. In Zuber-Skerritt, edition (Series ‘The Beckett Digital Manuscript O. (ed), The Languages of Theatre: Problems in the Project’, module 1). Edited by Dirk Van Hulle and Translation and Transposition of Drama. Oxford: Vincent Neyt. Brussels: University Press Antwerp Pergamon Press, pp. 24–50. (ASP/UPA), 2011,
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edu/files/2011/10/Staging-Dostoevsky.doc (accessed 5 7 For example, in the version of 15 February 2013, we April 2014). find the archaic phrase ‘elterliche Anwesen’, which is Upward, F. and McKemmish, S. (1994). Somewhere changed into ‘Haus seines Vaters’ in the second ver- beyond custody. Archives and Manuscripts, 22(1): sion of that day. In the third version, the modification 136–49. is reversed. 8 The transformation of text into performance (‘from Van den Dries, L. (2001). Luk Perceval. Kritisch Theater page to stage’) has been referred to as ‘translation’, Lexicon, 17. Brussel: Vlaams Theater Instituut. ‘transposition’, ‘adaptation’, and so on. See on the Zuber-Skerritt, O. (1984). Translation science and drama subject, amongst others: Link(1980); Zuber-Skerritt translation. In Zuber-Skerritt, O. (ed.), Page to Stage: (1984). Theatre as Translation. Amsterdam: Rodopi, pp. 3–12. 9 Additionally, adaptation processes exist already of more montage and copy-paste than a traditional writ- ing process—making the computer even more adroit. Notes 10 See for example: Reside, D. (2014). File Not Found: 1 According to the NIST Definition of Cloud rarity in an Age of Digital Plenty. RBM: A Journal of Computing, ‘a model for enabling ubiquitous, conveni- Rare Books, Manuscripts and Cultural Heritage, 15(1): ent, on-demand network access to a shared pool of 68–74. configurable computing resources (e.g. networks, ser- 11 See a.o. Cunningham, A. (1994). The archival vers, storage, applications, and services) that can be management of personal records in electronic form: rapidly provisioned and released with minimal manage- Some suggestions. Archives and Manuscripts, 22(1): ment effort or service provider interaction’ (2011). 94–105. 2 Just as other directors of the ‘Flemish Wave’ of the 12 See for example: Bantin, P. C. (1998). Strategies for 1980s (Jan Fabre, Jan Lauwers, Ivo Van Hove), managing electronic records: a new archival para- Perceval is mentioned by Lehmann in the German edi- digm? An affirmation of our archival traditions? tion of ‘Postdramatic Theatre’. Archival Issues, 23(1): 17–34. Duranti, L. and Mac 3 Projected text often appears in the work of the directors Neil, H. (1996). The Protection of the Integrity of mentioned by Lehmann in ‘Postdramatic Theatre’. In Electronic Records: An Overview of the UBC-MAS the Belgian context, the work of Guy Cassiers springs to Research Project. Archivaria 42: ... . Cook, T. mind. Handwritten text played a crucial role in Romeo (1994). Electronic Minds: The Revolution in Castellucci’s Amleto, la veemente esteriorita` della morte Information and Archives in the Post-Custodial and di un mollusco (1981), and text on letter signs (as may Post-Modernist Era. Archives and Manuscripts 22(2): be found in older railway stations) in his Tragedy 300–328. Cook, T. (1997) What is Past is Prologue: A Endogonidia Br.#04 (2002). History of ArchivaI ldeas Since 1898, and the Future 4 His blog is at lukpercevaljournal.tumblr.com, and his Paradigm Shift. Archivaria 43: 17–63. O’Shea, G. and website at www.lukperceval.info. Roberts, D. (1996). Living in a Digital World: the 5 For example, in the trailer of the theatre productions Electronic and Post-Custodial Realities. Archives and of The Brothers Karamazow (electronically available Manuscripts 24(2): 286–311. Upward, F. and on: http://www.lukperceval.info). McKemmish, S. (1994). Somewhere Beyond 6 See https://code.google.com/p/google-diff-match-patch. Custody. Archives and Manuscripts 22(1): 136–149.
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