A STUDY ON OPINIONS OF THEATRE STUDENTS ABOUT THE PLAY-TEXT CONVERTIBILITY DURING PRODUCTION

Written text is the basis of dramatic theatre. Play scripts, while having philosophical, literary an deven historical attributes until the beginning of the 20th century, have been taken into account within the context of stage performance after the second half of the 20th century. Especially 1960s were the years when the sanctity of the text was broken. By re-writing through transformation via radically unique approaches and aesthetics, ispiring productions have been manifested. From this point on, the following questions can be directed: Where does the script stand within the applied area of theatre? How and to what extent can the text can be transformed? And what are the thoughts of performing arts students on the subject? The purpose of this research is to contribute to the discussion explained above, and within this context, examine and learn about the opinions and thoughts of the performing arts students on the place of the text, its convertibility within the field of application of theatre. The method of this study is qualitative data research and focus group interview has been used as one of the data collection tools of this method. Two focus group interviews were held with participants who were trained in Dramatic Writing, Acting and Stage Design and the interviews were analyzed separately by descriptive analysis and content analysis by two researchers. Findings of the study: All participants shared the same opinion regarding that the text of the play would be changed and transformed during the staging, but different opinions have been put forward as to what extent the text may be altered. Although the Performers and the Designer Participants took the text as the starting point, it is interesting that the Author Participants opposed to the participants taking the text as a starting point. The text is perceived differently, semantically and functionally within the context of specializations, while other areas do not taken into account in collective production. As a result, it may be suggested that studies should be undertaken to overcome sensitivities in the context of texts and that students should be directed to work in professional life to add other areas of collective production