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Abstract
This practice-based research is drawn from the broader field of the Dramatic Arts and
lies within the specific discipline of theatre design. The principle aim is to investigate
and analyse the methodology of freehand drawing as the unique means of imaging the
dramatic text for theatre and to contextualise my own practice within a theoretical
framework. It is driven by the argument that the thinking drawings, more so than the
finished, built design, exist as the primary site of revelation for the Australian theatre
designer.
This research is underpinned by the formal methodologies of Stephen Scrivener,
Donald Schön and Douglas Hofstadter; my unconscious practice emerges organically
through the unstructured reflective process of Peggy Phelan s performative writing .
The hypothesis driven model has been replaced with the equally rigorous model of
reflective practice, by which the unending transformative spiral of research has
spawned multiple avenues for future research examining drawing from the dramatic
text. One such avenue is the discovery of the unrecognised secret autonomous
drawing (a drawing that exists outside the original theatre production process). It is this
drawing, in particular, that is potentially a door or portal, deep in the consciousness of
the theatre designer. The ghosts inhabiting the dark space of the empty stage are
illuminated in the designer s eye of the mind where the spectral presence embedded in
the palimpsest of the autonomous drawing becomes the seminal source of revelation, of
originality and innovation.
Integral to this practice-based research was an exhibition, held at the COFA Space, of a
personal body of dramatic drawings that accompanied the text. The explorations
documented in the text were tested for their potential to become a primary outcome,
such as an exhibition of works before a different type of audience in a different style of
venue from that of a theatrical production. This exhibition complemented the written
dissertation with a critical and reflective focus on the creative or practice
component. The principle focus of this exhibition was an interrogation of the process of
creating new spaces in the dramatic drawing - the transformation of the dramatic text
into the performative scenographic script and in so doing open up new possibilities
and artistic and design potential.
In the Twenty-First Century the drawings of the contemporary Australian theatre
designer are an exclusive personal insight into the intricate nuances of the imaging of
the dramatic text and are exceptional in their ability to illuminate a space in constant
flux, a site of infinite mutable signs, which excite cognitive surprise , wonder and
astonishment. Importantly, they are also the only door into the theatre designer s
uncensored private thoughts in an innately collaborative art form.