Jenny Pohle & Jeanne Desurmont

Hi! So could you briefly present yourself? And what kind of artistic form do you work with?

I'm a travelling art facilitator. I'm mostly focusing on drama in all its forms. I want to help people express themselves in a creative way. I like thinking of drama in terms of tools and techniques used to create something. I also do arts and crafts. I like exploring the interaction and the intersection of crafted art and drama. For example, I'm doing crochet, and I'm interested in how I can connect those different art forms with one another.

With whom do you work the most?

I've worked with all different sorts of people, mostly kids and young people. I'd like to explore drama with different communities and different age groups as well.

Why and how did drama become important to you?

Drama has been a part of my life since I was a small child. I always liked dressing up and playing around. I started with a little theatre group in primary school and then when I was a teenager, I was in two plays in my high school and part of the youth theatre group in my hometown. I just loved it. It gave me a sense of accomplishment and I felt a new energy, a good energy. Which was great especially when I didn’t feel too good about myself, you know? Being a teenager is tough. And I wanted to give other people the same experience of this positive energy. It's the best way for me to express myself because there are so many possibilities. Drama can be stunningly beautiful and impactful with really simple methods, and there’s something for everybody, and that just makes me very happy.

Are you more of an on-stage or backstage person?

I love being a performer on stage and being over the top, being silly and completely losing myself on the stage. As a workshop facilitator, it is different; I don’t necessarily need to be on stage and perform if it doesn’t feel right with the process. I am definitely more an on-stage person.

What is the role of your body when you are thinking about drama?

If you have a good script with the right words then you can explore the depths of a play. And think, ‘how can I express the words with my body?’. That's something I find very interesting. Like, how do you make the text come alive with your facial expressions, and your body? How do you put your own spin on the script?

Who is inspiring you the most?

The people who inspire me are the ones who do the work I want to do in my life. I had this brilliant teacher at my university at Goldsmiths. She has been doing arts and drama with communities for 30 years or so. Hearing her talk about projects and her travels really inspired me about what was possible. Also I guess the different and new concepts in my field of work inspire me, and seeing other people do great work and thinking about what I like about it and how I can learn from it.

So your first language is German. I was curious if it was difficult to translate your art and creativity from German to English?

It is easier for me, actually. German is not, for me, the most beautiful language. I find that English words are more precise than German and I prefer writing in English even if it’s less natural to me.

That’s interesting. I remember from high school that the German language has very specific words for everything.

Yes, you have the “put-together” words, when in German you will only have one word for something. But in English you will have different words with different connotations and they are more specific and focus on a different aspect of that word. For example, the word “Gluck” means luck but also happiness and other things. In German you only have one aspect of the word.

Now is the time for the weird question of the interview! Because you use your body a lot in your work, if you had to lose one of your senses, which one would it be?

I’ll have to say smell, even if I love smelling food especially when I’m cooking, I can’t imagine not being able to taste, or worse, not being able to touch.

Back to a more serious question. What would be your dream workshop to facilitate?

A big goal of mine is to establish a community theatre. To have a dedicated group and have a room every week where people can come, play and discover theatre and drama to see what's possible. Creating a safe space and following what the participants want to do. Also creating a room for people of different ages, but especially for adults, because I think young adults or middle aged adults, there are not as many options for them as there are for kids, young people and elderly people. So yeah, creating the space for them to be playful and silly. Yeah, that's something in my mind I’ve been working with for some time.

Thank you so much, Jenny, for this lovely discussion!