FESTIVAL THEATRE | Verbatim Theatre
words. Gareth K Vile inves g
Whether it’s sex, drugs or public transport, diffi cult subjects are sometimes best tackled with real words. Gareth K Vile investigates the growing popularity of verbatim theatre GET REAL
M ax Stafford-Clark, ford-Clark, artistic artistic former r of the director of the ollaborator Traverse and collaborator diverse as with writers as diverse as k Ravenhill David Hare, Mark Ravenhill hill, regards and Caryl Churchill, regards e last great verbatim as ‘the last great Often used in pulse in theatre’. Often used in rmat, it takes a documentary format, it takes ple involved the words of people involved puts them in an event and puts them age. directly on the stage. ho has two Mark Jeary, who has two the Fringe verbatim plays in the Fringe lackout), is (X and Y and Blackout), is advantages. clear about the advantages. ayering and ‘You get the layering and it’s for me for me nuances, but it’s ys. ‘Verbatim honesty,’ he says. ‘Verbatim g to characters gives real layering to characters nces that are – different nuances that are uce accurately difi cult to reproduce accurately of speech, to a – from patterns of speech, to a umour. I i nd it certain sense of humour. I i nd it i nd it difi cult all in the text, and i nd it difi cult to fake.’
‘I
and
that i ctional that i ctional ries both deal Jeary’s two entries both deal ssues (gender with sensitive issues (gender alcoholism, identity alcoholism, and verbatim respectively) – and verbatim into complex into complex offers a way falling foul of subjects without falling foul of l conventions. typical theatrical conventions. sti asks some Likewise, Travesti asks some the s about tough questions about the Rebecca Hill women. Director Rebecca Hill socialisation of women. Director elt accounts of these felt accounts of these explains: easily written off because they are i ction, and experiences are easily written off because they are i ction, and men’s true accounts are far more entertaining, actually the women’s true accounts are far more entertaining, uching than anything I could have made up.’ shocking and touching than anything I could have made up.’ m is not necessarily more confrontational, it challenges Although the form is not necessarily more confrontational, it challenges sider the performance as part of a discussion rather audiences to consider the performance as part of a discussion rather rtainment. than as mere entertainment. w in Edinburgh for the past ive years has been the The biggest row in Edinburgh for the past i ve years has been the tram saga, so it feels inevitable that Joe Douglas, director of Bloody Trams, would use a verbatim approach to get ‘an authenticity of voice’. Douglas takes the theatre experience even closer to the source, using a technique whereby the actors hear the words through a headset, rather than following a traditional script. ‘It gives a really exciting, live performance quality – somewhere between acting and presenting the characters,’ he says. ‘It means you can be more truthful to the voices that have been captured, and that audiences also receive a tone or quality of delivery.’
74 THE LIST FESTIVAL 31 Jul–7 Aug 2014
there However, Howev ch are are challenges, as Matthew Matthew Baldwin and Tho and Thomas Hescott, writers o writers of Outings (cast pictured), pictured), note. ‘We prefer to s prefer to say the show is based on re based on real life coming- out stories out stories [rather] than “verbatim” t “verbatim” theatre: quite a few of our a few of our stories were emailed to us emailed to us, which meant we didn’t get we didn’t get the rhythm of their speech an their speech and had to i nd that for ourselv that for ourselves.’ But more importantly, the importantly, the writers are noticing the eth noticing the ethical demands that verbatim pr that verbatim processes place on the artist. Re on the artist. Respect for the participants trum participants trumps the usual aesthetic concerns aesthetic concerns, and places an obligation on the obligation on the makers to be honest and not sen honest and not sensationalise. Verbatim techn Verbatim techniques access an emotional an emotional honesty, and an immediacy immediacy an is rare in in scripted performance. performance. Stafford-Clark sees the approach sees the approach as borrowing from journalism, from journalism, and it charges up performance up performance by connecting it to wider deb it to wider debates and real lives. From Blo lives. From Bloody Trams to Blackout, it is no Blackout, it is not just the form that is urgent and that is urgent and intimate. All of these plays dea of these plays deal with relevant matters, transfo matters, transforming social and then feeding and then feeding back into the
convention conventional
that
t
and and immediate immediate issues into theatre issues into theatre social discussion. social discussion.
Blackout, Freestival Space @ Phones 4U, 226 000 Blackout, Freestival Space @ Phones 4U, 226 0000, 1–10 Aug, 1.45pm, free. 1.45pm, free. X and Y, just Festival, 226 0000, 2–5, 16–19 Aug, times vary, £10 X and Y, just Festival, 226 0000, 2–5, 16–19 Aug, tim (£8) Preview 1 Aug £5 Also at Scottish Storytelling (£8). Preview 1 Aug, £5. Also at Scottish Storytelling Centre, 556 9579, 6–10, 20–24 Aug, 7pm, £10 (£8).
Bloody Trams, Traverse, 228 1404, 5–10 Aug, 11pm, £12 (£10).
Travesti, Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, 2–25 Aug (not 5, 19), 2.50pm, £8.50–£11 (£7.50–£10). Previews 30 Jul–1 Aug , £6. Outings, Gilded Balloon Teviot, 622 6552, 30 Jul–25 Aug (not 6, 13, 21), 1pm, £10–£13 (£11–£12).