Dramaturgical Potentials of Costume
– interwievs and editing of interviews Charlotte Østergaard
In the following three interviews, Åsa Johannisson, Thomas Brennan, and Alejandro Bonnet each reflect on their experiences of the Costume Jam Session, the collaborative framework of the Costume Dramaturgies workshop, and the meeting of diverse professional practices. From distinct artistic positions, they articulate how improvising with costume as an active agent shape questions of materiality, movement, dramaturgy, and performance.
Åsa Johannisson approached the costume jam session through a strong focus on new materialism; materiality and matter. Johannisson reflects on how the material qualities of costume generated movement and dramaturgical possibilities, emphasizing the importance of staying true to material as material rather than treating it as representation. Working with costume opened new entry points into Johannisson’s own artistic research that explores how material-driven processes inform knowledge production.
Thomas Brennan reflects on costume as an instigator of stories and dramaturgy, describing how observing people interact with costume generates narratives in the viewer’s mind. He connects these reflections to his own theatre-based artistic research, in which an augmented prosthetic leg functions as a key character with its own dramaturgical agency. Brennan also emphasizes the value of learning with and from collaborators coming from different practices, and he reflects critically on the costume jam session as a method in educational setting with students.
Alejandro Bonnet focuses on storytelling, movement, and dramaturgy in relation to the performer–costume–audience relationship. He considers humans as moving bodies placed in space, and costume as a mask that can be taken up with or against bodies. Bonnet reflects on how costume can generate dramaturgical ideas simply by being placed on the floor, asserting its own form and presence. From a performer’s perspective, he asks how one can become a costume, and how performer and costume together create images, emotions, and stories in the audience’s imagination. Bonnet further reflects on improvisational practices in which humans appear to be in service of the costume, akin to a puppeteer animating a figure.
Interview with Åsa Johannisson (12.11.2025)
Assistant Professor of Mime Figuration
Stockholms University of the Arts (SE)
Interview with Thomas Brennan (5.12.2025)
Assistant Lecturer of Post Production
Stockholm University of the Arts (SE)
Note: Due to a instable internet connection there is a bit of hacking in the beining of the interveiw with Thomas Brennan.
