The Creative Process

Robbie Blake's blue notebook, 8

In this page from Robbie Blake’s project notebooks, Robbie sets out the aims and methodology of a week of workshops and rehearsals at Dance House in August 2020. They also make a note to ask Zosia Kuczyńska to record some monologues from Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa (1990) as a tool for generating material.

Related Manuscript

Let it drift as it wishes.

In this note towards Dancing at Lughnasa (1990), we can see Friel reminding himself of the need to allow the play to develop freely without becoming bogged down with preconceived ideas of form.

The Creative Process

Dance House, 3 September 2020

This is a recording of a live improvisation by dancers Marion Cronin, Sarah Ryan, and Lucia Kickham whilst listening to Zosia Kuczyńska’s placeholder recording of the opening monologue from Brian Friel’s Dancing at Lughnasa (1990).

The Creative Process

Jessie Keenan notes, 6

In this extract from Jessie Keenan’s project notes, Jessie plans different intentions for the dancers to try.

Video

Mixed interview, extract 2

Zosia Kuczyńska, Jessie Keenan, and Robbie Blake talk about their own scholarly and artistic processes and how they intersect with Friel’s creative practice.

“A line on a page isn’t a solemn commitment.” – Brian Friel

Video

Mixed interview, extract 3

Zosia Kuczyńska, Jessie Keenan, and Robbie Blake talk about their experiences of accessing Friel’s archives at the National Library of Ireland and how their thinking around archives has changed over the course of the project.