In Praise of Folly

I made two specific contributions to this performance work. The first was as dramaturg, working with the choreographer to structure the performance. Secondly I wrote a text that was an integral part of it. I worked directly with the choreographer on a dance performance as part of a double bill for the company Candoco.

My research for this collaboration particularly involved the preparation of a dramaturgy that related to the integration of able-bodied and disabled dancers which was achieved through a close collaboration with the choreographer.

The text consisted of a series of dialogues between God and Lucifer, primarily focussed on the nature of human suffering but highly ironic in tone and referencing Milton’s Paradise Lost. These dialogic interludes interrupted and framed the choreographic sequences to produce an uncomfortable tension between the apparent failure of the choreography to acknowledge the quite severe physical disabilities of the dancers and the texts apparent direct reference to it.

As well as playing at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Praise of Folly has toured widely in Britain and has also been shown in Europe and Korea. It played in London at Queen Elizabeth Hall and was awarded the 2005 Manchester Evening News Dance Award. It has been widely reviewed in the national press.

Peter Brooks

Research Interests

Contemporary Performance Design and Practice
The relationship between Design and Dramaturgy.
Post Dramatic Dramaturgies
Current Research
My current Research is practice based, and focuses on developing and understanding the dramaturgical opportunities offered by the use of new media (in particular digital film) within live performance.