1 Appropriating Narratives of Conflict in Contemporary Verbatim Theatre

356 Pages·2016·11.75 MB·English

Appropriating Narratives of Conflict in Contemporary Verbatim Theatre:
A Practice-as-Research-led Investigation Into
The Role of the Playwright

By Sarah Beck

Department of Media and Communications
Goldsmiths College, University of London

Thesis submitted for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

2016

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This is to certify that the following work presented in this thesis is my own.

Sarah Beck

Abstract

Despite the resurgence of interview-based verbatim theatre in the 21st century
and scholarly debate surrounding the aesthetics and authenticity of verbatim plays, little
examination of the role of the playwright integrating testimonies of war into the making
of a verbatim play has been undertaken. The transactional relationships between
interviewees and playwrights warrant study as this critical interaction informs the
dramaturgy of the playtext. This area of inquiry also has significant resonance in
debates regarding the ethics of representation in verbatim theatre, particularly as many
contemporary verbatim plays examining conflict tend to incorporate testimony from
interviewees whose lives have been affected by war and militarism.
What follows is a practice-as-research (PaR)-led investigation into my role as a
playwright appropriating testimony from individual subjects affected by conflict.
Through the creation of two verbatim plays, namely This Much is True and Yardbird,
this investigation examines moments of disjuncture that occur when mediating war-
related testimony. In addition to critically reflecting on the creative component of this
inquiry, this dissertation also incorporates original interviews conducted with the
creative team behind the National Theatre of Scotland’s play Black Watch and examines
more broadly the methodologies of playwrights working with trauma-related
experiences by focusing on how playwrights’ interactions with individual subjects
inform the shaping of a play. This investigation examines the key issues that emerge as
playwrights integrate personal testimony in a theatrical translation of subjects’
experiences into the writing of a verbatim play. It also seeks to examine the ethical
tensions I encountered within my verbatim playwriting practice. Furthermore, this
investigation interrogates my process of locating interview subjects and facilitating
testimony; maintaining critical relationships with interviewees; organising the structure
of the play; and negotiating interview subjects’ autonomy over the script.
Rather than generating codified guidelines for ethical verbatim practice, the
findings and deliberations of my investigation are designed to assist other practitioners
using personal testimony from interviewees as part of the playwriting process.
Encouraging practitioners to critically reflect on the methods that they employ within
the interview stages as part of the playwriting process helps to lay bare the ethical and
aesthetic responsibilities involved in dramatising war-related testimony. These
deliberations are offered for the benefit of other theatre practitioners as well as scholars
working within the wider field of theatre studies.

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Acknowledgments
This thesis has been influenced by a spectrum of brilliant people. I would like to
thank my mentors from Shippensburg University, Paris Peet, Eveline Lang, Kara
Laskowski and especially Sharnine Herbert whose guidance taught me the beauty of
reaching out to others and the importance of being heard. I value the feedback and
healthy criticism of members of staff at Goldsmiths College, including Ben Levitas,
Maria Shevtsova, Gareth Stanton, Sean Cubitt, David Morley, Pasi Väliaho, Des
Freedman, Marianne Franklin, Robert Smith, Kay Dickinson and Zehra Arabadji.
Thank you to Gregory Burke, Davey Anderson, John Tiffany, Brian Ferguson
and Ross Anderson for your time and generosity sharing insider knowledge on the
agony and euphoria of making the National Theatre of Scotland’s play Black Watch. I
also extend my appreciation to friends and colleagues Sarah Sigal, Yu-kei Tse, Adam
Brace, Helena Enright, Tom Mansfield, Yasmin Khan and Aleks Sierz. I also extend
one big hallelujah to Tadgh O’Sullivan.
I am also indebted to my family for a lifetime of love and immeasurable support
and for giving me a good shot in the arm amidst times of crisis including my parents
Marie and Ed Beck, and my sister Jessica Beck—who has rigorously read various drafts
of the thesis and has offered invaluable, professional feedback. Special love and thanks
goes out to my husband Elliott Tiney.
Furthermore, I am grateful to my supervisors Angela McRobbie and Susan
Clayton for their guidance throughout this journey. Finally, I dedicate this work to those
who have shared with me their testimony in good faith, to whom I bestow my deepest
thanks. Your openness and trust taught me how to listen, and your stories give testament
to the world’s capacity for human compassion. Special thanks goes to Sam Mellott for
showing me what it is to fly.

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ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................................. 2
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .......................................................................................................... 3
TIMELINE OF CREATIVE PRACTICE ................................................................................ 7
LIST OF FIGURES .................................................................................................................... 8
INTRODUCTION ....................................................................................................................... 9
CHAPTER ONE: APPROPRIATING WAR-RELATED TRAUMA AND TESTIMONY
WITHIN THE DRAMATURGY OF VERBATIM THEATRE ........................................... 18
TERMINOLOGY AND CONTENTION: DEFINING VERBATIM THEATRE .......................................... 19
TRACING THE HERITAGE OF VERBATIM THEATRE: .................................................................... 23
THEORIES AND APPROACHES USED IN DOCUMENTARY AND COMMUNITY-BASED PRACTICE .. 23
EARLY FORMS OF DOCUMENTARY PRACTICE, 1920S-30S .......................................................... 23
DOCUMENTARY THEATRE OF THE 1960S-70S ............................................................................. 25
THEATRE OF TESTIMONY IN THE US ........................................................................................... 27
POST 9/11 AND THE THIRD WAVE OF DOCUMENTARY THEATRE ............................................... 29
OUT OF JOINT AND VERBATIM PRACTICE ................................................................................... 30
RECORDED DELIVERY: HEADSETS AND HYPERREALISM ........................................................... 30
CONTEMPORARY SCHOLARSHIP ON VERBATIM PRACTICE: ........................................................ 31
AESTHETICISING THE ‘REAL’ AND TRANSLATING TESTIMONY .................................................. 31
VERBATIM PLAYWRITING, TENSIONS IN VERBATIM PRACTICE AND RESPONSIBILITY .............. 35
TRAUMA, TESTIMONY AND WITNESSING IN PERFORMANCE ...................................................... 39
THE POLITICS AND LIMITS OF IDENTIFICATION IN VERBATIM PRACTICE .................................. 43
EXAMINING THE ROLE OF THE PLAYWRIGHT THROUGH PRACTICE ........................................... 47
CHAPTER TWO: ADOPTING A PRACTICE-AS-RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND
THE ROLE OF THE PLAYWRIGHT IN CONTEMPORARY VERBATIM THEATRE
..................................................................................................................................................... 48
INTRODUCTION: METHODOLOGIES .......................................................................................... 48
PAR STARTING POINTS: THE KRATOS EFFECT AS A PILOT PROJECT ........................................... 49
WRITING THE KRATOS EFFECT: METHODS AND APPROACH ....................................................... 52
VOCABULARY: DEFINING TERMS THROUGH THE KRATOS EFFECT ............................................. 54
ADOPTING A PRACTICE-AS-RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: THE PERFORMANCE PRAXIS MODEL 59
ORGANISING PAR CASE STUDIES: CRITICAL WRITING AND REFLECTION ................................. 62
PAR INVESTIGATIONS IN DOCUMENTARY PRACTICE ................................................................. 64
ORAL HISTORY METHODOLOGY AND QUALITATIVE RESEARCH ............................................... 66
INTERVIEW APPROACHES AND TECHNIQUES FOR RECORDING STORIES .................................... 68
TRANSCRIPTION: LISTENING AND INTERPRETING STORIES ........................................................ 70
WRITING TECHNIQUES AND DRAMATURGICAL STRATEGIES IN VERBATIM PRACTICE .............. 72
COLLABORATION, OWNERSHIP AND AUTONOMY ....................................................................... 75
RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND PAR CASE STUDIES ....................................................................... 76
CASE STUDY: THIS MUCH IS TRUE RE-THINKING THE ARCHIVE AND VERBATIM PRACTICE ..... 77
CASE STUDY: RECORDING AND WRITING THE LIVES OF US SOLDIERS
IN THE VERBATIM PLAY YARDBIRD ............................................................................................. 78
CHAPTER THREE: RE-VISITING THIS MUCH IS TRUE: THE ROLE OF THE
WRITER AND THE DRAMATURGY OF THE STOCKWELL SHOOTING ................ 80
INTRODUCTION: THIS MUCH IS TRUE ........................................................................................... 80
STARTING POINTS ........................................................................................................................ 80
RESEARCH PLAN AND STRATEGY ............................................................................................... 81
ISSUES OF PRESENCE, LOCATION, AND INTERVIEW APPROACH ................................................. 82
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FRAMING TRAUMA AND VICTIMHOOD: RESEARCHING THE 7/7 BOMBINGS
AND THE STOCKWELL SHOOTING ................................................................................................ 84
RELATIONSHIPS BASED ON TRUST: ALTERITY AND CRITICAL DISTANCE .................................. 87
DRAMATURGICAL STRATEGIES: WRITING THIS MUCH IS TRUE .................................................. 90
LINEAR PROGRESSION: GENERATING A TIMELINE ..................................................................... 91
LOCATING THE CENTRAL QUESTION FOR THE PLAY .................................................................. 92
CONSIDERING STYLE: WRITING FOR PERFORMANCE ................................................................. 95
MULTIPLE ROLE-PLAYING ........................................................................................................... 96
NATURALISTIC PORTRAYALS OF THE MENEZES FAMILY ......................................................... 100
WHOSE VOICE MATTERS? THE HIERARCHY OF TESTIMONY AND THE RISK OF
DOUBLE SILENCING ................................................................................................................... 102
THE LIMITS OF REPRESENTING TRAUMA .................................................................................. 108
SUBJECTS RESPOND TO THE PERFORMANCE: THE ROLE OF THE WRITER
AS AN ACCOUNTABLE WITNESS ................................................................................................ 111
AUDIENCE RESPONSES AND DEBATES REGARDING THE ROLE OF THEATRE PRACTITIONERS
AND THE MENEZES SHOOTING .................................................................................................. 112
THIS MUCH IS TRUE: PAR OUTCOMES ....................................................................................... 114
RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND FORWARD THINKING ................................................................... 116
CHAPTER FOUR: THE MAKING OF BLACK WATCH AND MEDIATING WAR-
RELATED NARRATIVES IN PLAYS BASED ON SOLDIERS’ TESTIMONY ........... 119
NEW CONSIDERATIONS FOR PRACTICE-AS-RESEARCH: BLACK WATCH AS A MODEL .............. 119
BLACK WATCH AND PERSONAL RESONANCE ............................................................................. 120
TESTIMONY AND WAR PLAYS ................................................................................................... 122
ORIGINAL INTERVIEWS WITH THE BLACK WATCH CREATIVE TEAM AND METHODOLOGY ...... 124
STARTING POINTS FOR BLACK WATCH ...................................................................................... 124
NEGOTIATING SOLDIERS’ PARTICIPATION ................................................................................ 125
DEPARTING FROM VERBATIM TESTIMONY: MEDIATING LIVED EXPERIENCES AND TRAUMA 126
THEATRICAL MODELS: FORM AND CONTENT ........................................................................... 128
INVITING SUBJECTS INTO THE REHEARSAL ROOM .................................................................... 130
FINDING THE PLAY’S QUESTION AND THROUGH-LINES ........................................................... 131
TEXTUAL REFLEXIVITY: WRITING THE PLAYWRIGHT INTO THE PLAY .................................... 133
THEATRICAL TRANSLATION OF DOCUMENTS AND ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS ...................... 138
ETHICAL ANXIETY, EXPLOITATION AND THE ROLE OF THE PLAYWRIGHT .............................. 141
FRAMES OF IDENTIFICATION AND EXCLUSION ......................................................................... 143
FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS FOR WRITING YARDBIRD .............................................................. 147
CHAPTER FIVE: YARDBIRD: AN ORIGINAL VERBATIM PLAYTEXT BASED ON
INTERVIEWS WITH US VETERANS AND MILITARY FAMILIES ........................... 150
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 150
YARDBIRD .............................................................................................................................. 151
CHAPTER SIX: APPROPRIATING WAR NARRATIVES OF US COMBAT
VETERANS AND MILITARY FAMILIES IN THE DRAMATURGY OF THE
PLAYTEXT YARDBIRD ........................................................................................................ 183
RESEARCH AIMS AND QUESTIONS FOR THE CREATION OF YARDBIRD ...................................... 183
STARTING POINTS FOR YARDBIRD: CONSIDERING SOLDIERS’ EXPERIENCES ........................... 184
POSITIONALITY AS RESEARCHER/PLAYWRIGHT ....................................................................... 185
ACKNOWLEDGING PERSONAL POLITICS AND CONFRONTING PRECONCEPTIONS ..................... 186
GAINING ACCESS, LOCATIONS AND A FRAGMENTED COMMUNITY ......................................... 187
RELEASE FORMS AND GAINING CONSENT: MOVING AWAY FROM PAPERWORK ..................... 190
INTERVIEWING SOLDIERS .......................................................................................................... 190
INTERVIEWING MILITARY FAMILIES ......................................................................................... 193
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NARRATIVES OF SURVIVAL: FEAR OF FLYING .......................................................................... 195
TRANSCRIPTION AND IMAGERY ................................................................................................ 199
FINDING THE FRAMING QUESTION ............................................................................................ 200
ORGANISING PRINCIPLE AND ESTABLISHING THROUGH-LINES ................................................ 201
DRAMATURGICAL STRATEGIES ................................................................................................. 203
FIRST REHEARSED READING ..................................................................................................... 206
THE VERBATIM SUBJECTS’ AUTONOMY: EXPECTATIONS AND LIMITATIONS .......................... 207
SECOND REHEARSED READING: COLLABORATING WITH ACTORS ........................................... 209
CRITICALLY LISTENING TO THE AUDIENCE .............................................................................. 212
RESEARCH QUESTIONS AND FINDINGS ..................................................................................... 216
TRANSACTIONAL MOMENTS ..................................................................................................... 217
CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................ 221
RESEARCH QUESTIONS .............................................................................................................. 224
RESEARCH OUTCOMES AND KEY DEBATES .............................................................................. 231
AESTHETICS, IDENTIFICATION AND ETHICS .............................................................................. 234
META-THEATRICAL GESTURES AND CRITICAL DISTANCE ....................................................... 237
PARTICIPATION AND VALUABLE RELATIONSHIPS .................................................................... 239
FORWARD THINKING AND FUTURE PRACTICE .......................................................................... 240
BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................... 244
PRIMARY SOURCES .................................................................................................................... 244
SECONDARY SOURCES .............................................................................................................. 244
APPENDICES ......................................................................................................................... 259
THE KRATOS EFFECT .................................................................................................................. 260
BLACK WATCH INTERVIEWS ....................................................................................................... 279
INTERVIEW WITH MUSICAL DIRECTOR DAVEY ANDERSON ..................................................... 279
INTERVIEW WITH ACTOR ROSS ANDERSON .............................................................................. 296
INTERVIEW WITH PLAYWRIGHT GREGORY BURKE ................................................................... 307
INTERVIEW WITH ACTOR BRIAN FERGUSON ............................................................................. 332
INTERVIEW WITH DIRECTOR JOHN TIFFANY ............................................................................. 344
YARDBIRD LIST OF INTERVIEWEES ............................................................................................. 353
YARDBIRD DVD RECORDINGS OF REHEARSED READINGS ........................................................ 355
YARDBIRD DVD RECORDING OF REHEARSED READING NO. 1 ................................................. 355
YARDBIRD DVD RECORDING OF REHEARSED READING NO. 2 ................................................. 355

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Timeline of Creative Practice

The Kratos Effect July 22, 2008
Written by Sarah Beck
First verbatim play about the Menezes shooting
Rehearsed Reading at The Cavendish in Stockwell, London

This Much is True October 28-November 21, 2009
Co-Written by Sarah Beck and Paul Unwin
Second verbatim play about the Menezes shooting
Full Production at Theatre 503 in London

Fortunate Son February 12, 2011
Written by Sarah Beck
Fictional play about an Iraq veteran reconciling
with his estranged Vietnam War vet father
Rehearsed Reading performed at The Calder Bookshop in London

The Kratos Effect June 11, 2011
Written by Sarah Beck
Re-written Version
Performed at The Bike Shed Theatre in Exeter

Yardbird April 9, 2013
Written by Sarah Beck
First Version of Yardbird
Rehearsed Reading at The George Wood Theatre
at Goldsmiths College, New Cross, London

Second Version of Yardbird June 4, 2015
Rehearsed Reading at
The Pineapple Pub in Kentish Town, London
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List of Figures

Fig. 1 Rose Romain as Chrysoulla in The Kratos Effect (2011).
Photo by Benjamin J. Borley.

Fig. 2 Speaking with Mary after the show.
Photo by Jessica Beck.

Fig. 3 This Much is True. Image from The Guardian theatre blog.

Fig. 4 Joshua Manning as Tim, Loren O’Dair as Kelly and James Wrighton as
Mr. Watson in Yardbird (2015). Photo by Ashley David.

Fig. 5 Flying with Sam over south-central Pennsylvania.
Photo by Sarah Beck.

Fig. 6 Diagram of organising principle and through-lines for Yardbird
Fig. 7 Louise Kempton reading the part of Katherine in Yardbird (2013).
Photo by Siheng Guo.

Fig. 8 Simon Darwen reading the part of Sam in Yardbird (2015).
Photo by Ashley David.

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Introduction

This dissertation examines the aesthetic and ethical responsibilities I
encountered as a playwright throughout the dramaturgy of verbatim playtexts. Verbatim
theatre, in the context of this study, involves the process of interviewing subjects and
incorporating excerpts from the interview material to compose the central text of the
play. Furthermore, the intention of this study is to critically assess the playwriting
process involved in shaping testimonies from verbatim subjects whose lives have been
impacted by war.
The purpose of the study is twofold. First, it aims to critically understand the
relationship between myself as the researcher-playwright and verbatim subjects (namely
those individuals whose life experiences and testimony serve as the frame and origin of
the text of the play) in relation to the dramaturgy of verbatim plays and the methods
adopted throughout the research and writing process. Secondly, the dissertation attempts
to comprehend how exploring narratives of war through the development of a playtext
(the written design of the play prior to the theatrical performance) might foster new
ethical considerations for theatre practitioners. Furthermore, this investigation examines
my creative process and ethical engagement with subjects affected by war in the context
of contemporary debates surrounding verbatim theatre-making and the methods other
practitioners have used to incorporate testimony and interview materials in their
working process. By drawing on the complexities of writing plays based on testimony
and identifying the problems inherent in scripting private accounts for public viewing, I
hope to contribute practical insights into the recent scholarly debates on the role of the
playwright in verbatim theatre.
My introduction to verbatim theatre came early in my playwriting career. While
I had written several short fictional plays for theatre and radio in the UK, I had only
studied verbatim plays written by other practitioners as part of my MA degree. I was
intrigued by the possibilities of utilising the verbatim form as a type of theatrical
ethnographic examination of the lives of others. I was curious about combining
ethnography and theatre in the dramatisation of personal testimony as a creative
approach to making political and social interventions. In 2008 I was commissioned by
Upstart Theatre Company to research and write a one-act verbatim play entitled The
Kratos Effect based on interviews with members of the local community affected by the
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police shooting of Jean Charles de Menezes at Stockwell tube station in 2005 as part of
the third anniversary commemoration of Menezes’ death in Stockwell. In contrast to my
initial enthusiasm for a form that allows for expression of the personal stories of others
as a species of political and social intervention, the process of mediating the experiences
of others proved more challenging than I had first considered.
This inquiry into the ethical and aesthetic responsibility of the playwright is
driven by a personal encounter with a verbatim subject who attended the rehearsed
reading of The Kratos Effect and challenged my artistic interpretation of her experience
suggesting my portrayal verged on the edges of misrepresentation. Afterwards she
spoke with me about her thoughts on the play. Mary, a political activist and local artist
who created the mosaic of Jean Charles de Menezes (now permanently mounted outside
Stockwell tube station), felt the framing of her testimony in the play presented a
despairing, one-dimensional portrayal of her political activism. While Mary had found
the play compelling, she had felt very self-conscious watching the presentation of her
testimony. This was because Mary felt that some of the statements she had made about
war as conveyed in the play came close to making her sound like a paranoid conspiracy
theorist. This framing, in Mary’s view, obscured those moments of hope and humanity
she has encountered in her life experience. Reflecting on Mary’s response to the play, I
realised that I had unconsciously silenced Mary in the framing of her story. In short, my
selection of words and assemblage of her testimony over-simplified the complexity of
her life experience and framed a more dismal, less empowering portrait of her activism.
My encounter with Mary reflects recent concerns in theatre scholarship
regarding the ethics of representation in verbatim practice. Current scholarship on
verbatim theatre has examined issues of authenticity, aesthetics and the representation
of trauma, yet the role of the playwright in organising the verbatim material has been
neglected; an oversight in scholarly research that requires further analysis. Playwright
David Hare (2005) has claimed that verbatim theatre is the ideal medium to “give a
voice to the voiceless” (Hare in Soans, 2005, p. 112). However, the frequent circulation
of authors’ claims to speak on behalf of the ‘other’ tend to overshadow the subjective
process of appropriating personal testimony in verbatim theatre. The complex levels of
appropriation involved in verbatim practice tend to be further veiled by uncritical claims
of the form’s veracity and authenticity. As Deirdre Heddon (2008) has argued, the term
‘verbatim’ implies “the ‘authentic’ and ‘truthful’” (p. 130), while David Lane (2010)
suggests that verbatim theatre’s claims to objectivity and authenticity have a propensity
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