‘Does What?’: Acting, Directing, and Rehearsing Martin Crimp's Fewer Emergencies

Abstract

In this article Adam J. Ledger reflects upon his recent experience of directing Martin Crimp's Fewer Emergencies. The play – a triptych comprising ‘Whole Blue Sky’, ‘Face to the Wall’, and ‘Fewer Emergencies’ – is one of a number that have been described as ‘open’, a term suggesting the absence of definitive meaning, defined characters, identifiable locale, or ‘traditional’ dramaturgy, a type of writing which has also been allied to the aesthetics of Lehmann's ‘postdramatic’. Without the ‘dramatic’, the actor may need alternative points of focus in the task of performance. In Fewer Emergencies, Crimp's stage directions also state ‘time: blank, place: blank’. What implications for acting might this provoke? Further, how can physicality be developed within such a relentlessly linguistic piece? After discussing particular rehearsal exercises, this article examines how the development of the performance moved closer to devising. However, despite the apparent openness of the text, Ledger suggests how Crimp resists ‘postdramatic’ labels and that his text can be seen as ‘closed’. Adam J. Ledger completed a PhD on rehearsal process and new work at Exeter in 2007, and is now a lecturer in drama and theatre practice at the University of Hull. He publishes on performance practice and has a particular interest in the Odin Teatret. He directs and leads projects both in the UK and abroad.