Speak : questioning ethics, feminism, and representation in verbatim theatre

Abstract

This project involves reflecting on the creative processes that questioned the ethical, feminist, and representative potential of verbatim theatre. The goal is to determine methods which enabled participants of the study to feel heard and respected during the length of the experiment, while questioning the distinction between art versus aesthetic. A commitment to an ethic of caring, a bottom-up model of theatre-making, and use of engaged theatre practices were vital to the project’s possible success. Analysis of field notes, focus group notes and recordings, confidential questionnaires and the final script yielded tentatively positive results which indicated that participants enjoyed the democratic processes that enabled them to feel immersed in the project from story-sharing through to performance. This study is part of a growing body of work dedicated to investigating the practice of creating theatre based on people’s lived experiences.