Pablo Ley, playwright. Graduate in History of Art. Head of the Department of Dramaturgy and Direction at the Higher School of Dramatic Arts Eolia. Founder, with Josep Galindo, of the company Project Galilei.
What do you need to be a director or playwright?
For me, both drama and directing is a way of thinking and imagining stories, both specialties share many common fields. The difference is that everything that is born in his head, the playwright translates it into words and the director brings it to the stage.
And is that learned? What can these studies offer people with the concerns you name?
Basically, the ability to order all the ideas and the fundamental strategies to achieve a specific result, in this one, which will be on top of the stage or derived to other branches such as film or literature. Dramaturgy thinking is not limited to words, it uses images, music, lights, spaces and, therefore, it is necessary to have a certain training in these languages, to study music, painting, sculpture, etc. In the end, it is about having more or less ample control over a complex universe of the different communication codes that exist.
And how is all this taught? How are the subjects you teach?
For example, in Creative Dramaturgy we develop an idea from scratch. The starting point is this feeling of being eager to do something, but not knowing how. Students look for an idea and, through reflection, planning and the accumulation of materials and other strategies, come to develop a clear vision of what they want to build, which they want to grow on top of the 'scene. Finally, they take care of turning it into words.
In the subject of Textual Analysis we learn how to analyze a written text and look for tools to turn those words put in a book into a three-dimensional element, and which, moreover, develops over time. This involves mastering a lot of languages which on paper are indirectly.
How does the theory and practice work together in the career of Escenografia and Dramaturgy?
The entire Dramatúrgia race is designed to make it more practical. In no case does the theory justify itself, it only works to the extent that it has a practical exit. Moreover, this is posed in such a way that in principle the theory comes after practice. First the questions are asked and then the answers are given.
One of the central elements of the degree is the staging practices, the place where all the subjects come together. They are managed by the students themselves, that is, the teachers are by our side but do not intervene, and then this is where the need for the theory comes from. The theory itself is absurd, it only serves to understand your own practice.
And how do the students take it? Are you ready to work without teachers?
It could be said that it is a pedagogy without pedagogues, where the student himself asks his questions and his answers. If he asks for advice, we help him, but in principle we leave him completely free. We teachers are there but we are not directly involved. Generally, the first time they are faced with this type of work, they feel a little lost. But as they get results and solve real problems, they realize the true value of the practice. How should I make this happen? How to generate a scene with more energy, more vitality ?, How to illuminate it? After the first release, the next practice is something else.
A great pedagogical value of this type of learning is to have the opportunity to do your experiments completely freely. If students want to do absolute madness, they have the right to try it; the result will be discussed, assessed, analyzed and, from there, they will have to draw their own conclusions.
We know you like to travel, do you think it's good to go abroad to study, as some students suggest?
In principle, just traveling, leaving home, is very important. The existence of others in the world is a necessary knowledge. And if instead of going all to Europe or to super-equal places in our culture, we could send them to Africa, South America, or India, where the world is really different, surely learning would be even better. Any attempt to leave a protected site, in principle, is good.