To browse Academia. The thesis consists of a dissertation and a portfolio of work created using the verbatim methodology: i. As context for the creative project the dissertation situates the portfolio in the canon of British verbatim theatre and provides contextual information on the subject matter โ modern slavery and human trafficking from Albania.
The resulting creative work consists of an audio drama, a dance film, and an installation of artefacts. The portfolio is a form of social practice which, through collaboration with charities, law enforcement agencies and policy makers, makes a complex, societal issue visible. Verbatim theatre processes which draw on interview content from living people are inherently open to accusations of appropriation, if not exploitation.
However, scholarship addressing the experience of those who are interviewed for such productions, particularly those from marginalised communities, is sparse. This thesis asks what key issues need to be addressed by theatre makers when interview material from contributors is sought and employed within a verbatim script. To examine this question, I have discussed the working processes of several practitioners including Christine Bacon and Della Pollock, who I interviewed and have also reflected upon some of my own plays, analysing follow-up interviews with contributors.
My research demonstrated how risks can be mitigated and it also identified ways in which contributors can benefit from their involvement. It revealed that follow-up interviews with contributors provide much-needed documentation about their experience of verbatim theatre processes. Crucial to this enquiry, this thesis showed how existing debates and practice within oral history can inform and enhance ethical practice in plays created from interviews with living people.
Documentary Theatre, and its more recent iteration, Verbatim Theatre, has been a vital theatre form in the West since the early 20th Century, notable for its preoccupation with socio-political issues and its reliance on the actual words of those who witnessed or participated in a particular event or phenomenon. By exploring the influences on practitioners and how these impact their work, the question asked is: What position does the writer take in terms of placing themselves in the text and how does this influence the work?
