‘Rehearsal as Mythopoiesis: Developing Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City’. Dr. Emma Cole, University of Queensland (AU)

Abstract:

This paper consists of a rehearsal study of Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City. In it, I employ the autoethnographic research methodology of Spectator-Participation-as-Research to highlight my dual role as observer and co-creator of The Burnt City, on which I worked as dramaturg. I document, in chronological order, moments from the creative development of The Burnt City from the research and development phase through to preview performances, and interrogate the approach that Punchdrunk took to transforming Greek literature into immersive performance. I argue that the richness and complexity of Punchdrunk’s resulting production means it equates to a megatext, such as we find in the fantasy worlds of Tolkien or C.S. Lewis or in the Marvel and DC megaverses, given the number of simultaneous narratives unfolding at tangents from one another, the sizeable cast of characters, and the ability for the production to create its own community of superfans who engage in the form of fan fiction known as extended audiencing. As such, Punchdrunk’s creative process equates to a form of contemporary mythopoiesis, or mythmaking. Understanding The Burnt City not just as an adaptation of Greek tragedy but as a piece of mythmaking illuminates debates surrounding how audiences experience, and scholars theorise, Punchdrunk’s work on the classics.

Bio:

Emma Cole is Senior Lecturer in Drama at the University of Queensland; previously, she was Senior Lecturer in Liberal Arts and Classics at the University of Bristol, and an AHRC Innovation Fellow (2019-2022). She is a classicist and a theatre historian and is an expert on Greek tragedy in contemporary theatre. She is the author of Punchdrunk on the Classics (Palgrave, 2023) and Postdramatic Tragedies (OUP, 2019), and the co-editor of Adapting Translation for the Stage (Routledge, 2017). Her current research focuses on ancient literature and immersive experience. Alongside her research, she works as a dramaturg on new writing and classical adaptation projects, including on Punchdrunk’s The Burnt City (2022-3).