RURAL DRAMATURGY: SITE-SPECIFICITY, RURAL CONTEXT, AND STRUCTURE OF FEELING - The development of a theoretical framework for the analysis of rural dramaturgies

Abstract

This thesis explores what rural dramaturgies could entail through an analysis of three site-specific Dutch performances: Hjir Ha Ik West (2019), Onze Grond (2021), and Huilende Bruiden (2021). These works, situated in rural areas, are analysed in relation to transformational processes impacting rural areas in the Netherlands, such as globalisation, urbanisation, environmental change, and policies. Whereas the concept of urban dramaturgy has been theorised, rural dramaturgy has not. Drawing on theories around site-specificity, rural context, and Raymond Williams’ structure of feeling, the thesis develops a theoretical framework for understanding how dramaturgical strategies – rural dramaturgies – reflect and reclaim rural space and its local identity in response to these transformational processes. Through a concept-driven dramaturgical analysis, the thesis shows how these performances engage with what is inherent to their rural locations (both material and intangible characteristics). Each case study reveals how performance can reframe and reveal local lived experiences and concerns. Rural dramaturgies invite spectators to engage with the rural, encouraging critical reflection on the feeling of belonging, the preservation of history, socio-political issues, and the future of regions like these. By presenting the local perspectives and tensions, these performances do not only reflect the rural way and sense of life but actively participate in the reclaiming of ‘the rural.’ Reclaiming is understood here as the speaking up of the local communities – which are often overshadowed by dominant, powerful (urban) processes and parties (and their ideas about the rural) – and the reclaim of the power over the preservation of rural (hi)stories.