Eveliens PodiumPraat

Geschreven voor International Young Makers in Action, www.iyma.eu

Dawn P. Robinson was born and raised in Germany, but she has British parents and lived in the U.K. for the last two years. In her master graduation piece ‘When I think of you I think of … Dentist’, she tries to become a proper British person by completing a few typical British challenges. After the second performance during ITS festival, I asked her about the idea behind the piece, her motivation as a theatre maker and her future plans.

When did you decide that you wanted to make theatre yourself?
When I studied acting in Austria, we went to this theatre festival in Croatia. There were some groups from the U.K. as well, and their pieces seem much more personal and not so much trying to be in a character: rather being themselves. I thought that was really interesting. I didn’t enjoy being an character so much in acting school, I always had the impression that I could either make it right or not. I don’t think art should be about making something right. So I decided to do a masters in the U.K. to see how they work and how they approach theatre.

Is this a biographical performance?
Yes: when I was in Germany, I was ‘the British girl’, and in the U.K. I’m ‘the German’. That’s annoying! It’s a biographical motivation. It’s not that I want to be a specific nation, but I wanted to make fun of it a little bit. I also put some clowning into it, because that’s what I really enjoyed.

How did you choose the challenges?
I made a questionnaire before I stared to create this show and I send it out to British people and non-British people, with questions about typical British things. From the answers I created the show, that was my inspiration. And I add things I found really shocking when I moved there, like how they dress when they go out. That’s crazy!

The first few challenges are cliché, traditional, British things. But at the last challenge, Brexit (the U.K. wanting to leave the European Union) comes up: a current issue. Why did you use this?
When I created the show, it was already decided that there was going to be a referendum. I think it’s important to address current issues in art. That’s why I want to do theatre. I also wanted to show a serious side of it.

What are your plans for the future?
I want to be more integrated in theatre. I want to do a training in theatre education so I can work with children and refugees, because I think it’s great that they can learn to be together and work together. Theatre is about coming together.