New international reader connects dramaturgical thinking across five European cities
Gestures of Attention: A Reader in Comparative Dramaturgy, the first comprehensive volume dedicated to comparative dramaturgy, will be published by University of the Arts Helsinki. Join us for the book launch at KokoTeatteri on 10 October.
The Theatre Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki will publish a new book, Gestures of Attention: A Reader in Comparative Dramaturgy, as part of its publication series. The volume is the first comprehensive book on comparative dramaturgy, a field that examines dramaturgical thinking, practices, and research across cultural, linguistic, and geographical contexts.
This book stems from the experience of a European double-degree programme Comparative Dramaturgy and Performance Research (CDPR). It was established in 2017 and developed as a collaboration between five universities: Goethe-Universität Frankfurt am Main, Oslo National Academy of the Arts, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Université Paris Nanterre, and University of the Arts Helsinki. The volume brings together essays relevant to the emerging field of comparative dramaturgy, both as a situated research field and as a methodology.
Gestures of Attention: A Reader in Comparative Dramaturgy approaches contemporary dramaturgy from various perspectives and practices. Just like the students of the CDPR programme do, the book invites the reader on a journey through five cities: Frankfurt, Brussels, Paris, Oslo, and Helsinki. Each city, each part of the book, named after these places, reflects some of the dramaturgical thinking of its cultures and geography. The trajectory through these five cities presents a quest from theory through practice to artistic research and undisciplining dramaturgy.
This rich volume – featuring nearly forty essays – is multicultural in its scope: featuring authors across fifteen countries and peoples (Australia, Belgium, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Greece, Guadeloupe, Hungary, Norway, Serbia, Slovenia, the UK, the USA, and the Sámi people) collects in one place important essays on contemporary dramaturgy.
It brings together in one collection modern classics (Hölderlin, Brecht), landmark essays by contemporary authors (Van Kerkhoven, Lehmann), with newly commissioend essays that frame the selected five city’s perspectives, as a first attempt to convey basic questions associated with the field. It also includes nine texts (by authors such as Anne-Françoise Benhamou, Bernard Dort, Olivier Neveux, Einar Schleef, and Ulla Ryum) that are published for the first time in English translation.
The publication is designed for any course that teaches dramaturgy in the context of contemporary theatre and performance, serving as a reference point or a point of departure for other ends. It also invites theatre practitioners and readers outside the academic sphere to engage with matters raised by comparative dramaturgy.
Book launch event
The book will be launched on 10 October 2026 at 11–13 at KokoTeatteri in Helsinki as part of Sediments Festival, an international festival organised by students of the Comparative Dramaturgy and Performance Research master’s programme. Read more about the event and register.
Availability
Gestures of Attention: A Reader in Comparative Dramaturgy will be available to buy from the University of the Arts Helsinki online store after the book launch: from 11 October onwards.
The book will be available for purchase at the book launch first.