Ethics of Verbatim Theatre 1

The Ethics of Verbatim Theatre
When conducting my initial research into verbatim theatre that I outlined in the
podcast at the top of my Weebly, I found I had a few questions or uncertainties
about the medium. The questions I had and developed over the ethics of this style
of theatre are what I will be researching and discussing here. As this is a question
of ethics and morals this document is filled with experiential data and personal
opinion (although considered and researched be assured) and Its very unlikely
there will be any answers and instead open-ended questions and discussions.
My first uncertainty was about whether the medium led to the sense of actors
portraying something of which they have no connection to and whether this is
therefore morally okay to perform as you portray real people that could feel like
their story is either being trivialized or just being used in order to create a story
that sells tickets. I struggled with this last project, not in verbatim theatre, when
having to portray a father who had lost their son, something I had never
experienced however the idea of needing to find a truth in order to make sure the
people who have experienced these things do not feel minimized is amplified
when you portray real people rather than manufactured characters. The play we
are studying Home, has its actors listen through an earpiece, to the real life
interviews of the people affected, Alecky Blythe Comments “The actors act like
mediums for the real people” seemingly bypassing the sense “stolen Valor” that
can come across in these plays. The genre as a whole is not exempt, however. Not
all verbatim style plays enact this technique, instead opting to have the actors put
their unique take on the “character.” Even if these precautions are put into place
however, it appears that the words spoken are not always entirely how the
original person had spoken them, an unnamed person from Ipswich said to a
guardian interviewer “they tell you it's authentic, but it's not. We were stitched
up” after having been portrayed in London road, a musical play made by Alecky
Blythe, the same playwright that created Home. If what this person says is true,
the authenticity of the entire play is called into question and the defense of
portraying each character exactly as they spoke is no longer sound.
There is also the argument to be made that it isn't possible to entirely accurately
portray what the characters are saying as context is inevitably removed. In Alecky
Blythes “the girlfriend experience,” 100 hours of interviews had to be cut down
into a 90-minute play, a lot of the context and reasoning behind conversations or
discussions therefore must have been removed which could diminish, change or
counteract the interviewee's point. Alecky Blythe has admitted, when asked “has
anyone ever said I didn’t say that” in an interview with the guardian “that “Its
more often people are upset at what I haven't included.” stripping context can
easily distort or morph someone's point and it is inevitable that, despite Alecky’s
claim of never changing anyone's point in an interview it's impossible to achieve
even if Alecky’s intentions ring true. With the knowledge that it is very
improbable to be able to make a full story while presenting all expressed opinion
truthfully, the question becomes should the piece of theatre be made in the first
place. This is a complex issue however I believe that the medium shouldn’t be
written off entirely however the people interviewed should be heavily involved
and get to sign off before the performances start. This makes it very difficult to
make steady progress and to make a satisfying story line with pacing however I
believe that the alternative is leaving people who agreed to help feeling used.
The next point I questioned is how Verbatim theatre, more specifically

documentary theater can be judged. I have noticed that many plays (In Der Sache
J Robert Oppenheimer Die So, as an example) are often highly praised and
applauded for simply being true stories. one review of a production of the
mentioned German play simply states “A fascinating stage play based on a true
event.” This raises the question, what makes something art, a very deep question
that I will not be able to scrape the surface of here. The Dictionary describes art
as “the expression or application of human creative skill and imagination”
However by this definition, a lot of Verbatim Theatre is not “art,” as its not
expression of anyone's imagination, rather a reflection of true-life events,
unaltered and uncreative. This can be interesting in itself however glowing
reviews suggest that an incredible feat has been created within this performance
however the reality is that all the creativity being praised is created by human
experience. Altering ideas and story lines can be created, making it once again Art
however then you run into the problems discussed above. The argument could be
made that these stories are often unknown and would have otherwise gone
untold and productions should therefore be praised for revealing these truths. I
would agree with this however praising it with the same metric as you praise a
regular production wouldn’t make sense as they are achieving and providing
separate things. A verbatim play can still be praised for performance however
instead of judging it based off writing, the productions should be praised on its
accuracy or of its discovery of untold story's. In this way, Verbatim style plays
would act more as newspapers or programs than traditional plays.
Now research into the use of atmosphere is needed as If Verbatim theatre needs
to be approached as a factual source rather than a medium of self-expression, we
need to understand whether its ethically okay to insert the Directors own feelings
or opinions. In England, the BBC is a public corporation meaning that it is neither
Privately nor government owned and so the BBC tries to stay Neutral in most
matters to avoid indoctrination. However, most theatre productions are produced
by privately owned companies and therefore would operate more in the way
Americas largest news company ABC. Theatre companies make money by selling
tickets and so they try and get as many audience members through the door as
possible, similar to how ABC operates by trying to get as many views as possible.
ABC achieves this by sensationalizing news and by giving their own opinions and
thoughts to garner more people tuning in to witness the drama, like a reality TV
show. Verbatim theatre could easily mirror this by setting a tone or presenting the
facts in a way that puts across their point of view and impresses the director's
opinion on the audience, this can lead to fear mongering ( as can be seen being
used by the ABC network in any clip you find of them) and undermining the real
story by using it as a container for the opinion and beliefs of the creators.
Therefore, I would argue that this very easily leads to the same problem that was
discussed in the first two paragraphs and Verbatim Theatre should therefore be
objective.
Following this line of thought has led to stripping away most of what makes
verbatim theatre interesting. Instead of being an artistic medium, it would
become a news source, perhaps more entertaining than a newspaper however
also higher budget leading to expensive tickets and an unlikely hood of profit. The
answers I have presented are clearly not the answer to making an ethically
correct Verbatim Theatre. While the current accepted format can be easily
manipulated, perhaps this is part of the medium, Theatre (I would argue) is
created to push societal boundaries and question what we believe is “right,”
Alecky Blythe has said that the audience acts as a stand in for her in the plays she
creates and so perhaps Verbatim Theatre is interesting as it’s an insight to the
writer as well as the situation the writer has put themselves in. Right answers in
this subject don’t exist though they could be chased for hours but this initial
research into how the Ethics could be explored has inspired a hundred more
questions that I will undoubtedly follow up without making my examiner slog
through endless pages of a janky word document for.

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The Ethics of Verbatim Theatre

The next point I questioned is how Verbatim theatre, more specifically

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