There is a growing interest in the notion and practice of dramaturgy, which is often discussed either as the work of the dramaturg, or as the compositional, cohesive or sense-making aspects of a performance. Drawing on such views, The Practice of Dramaturgy addresses dramaturgy as a shared, politicized and catalytic practice that sets actions into motion in a more speculative rather than an instructive way.
In the first part, 'Dramaturgy as Working on Actions', the editors and main authors of the book discuss three working principles that lie at the heart of their proposition, and return to the etymology of the term 'dramaturgy' ('drama'=action and 'ergon'=work) in order to scrutinize this further by relating it to debates on action, work and post-Fordist labour.