Description

Book Synopsis

Five specially commissioned discussions of verbatim theatre - in the words of the people who make it.


'What a verbatim play does is flash your research nakedly. It’s like cooking a meal but the meat is left raw.’ - Max Stafford-Clark


Plays which use people’s actual words as the basis for their dramaare not a new phenomenon. But from the stages of national theatres to fringe venues and universities everywhere, ‘verbatim’ theatre, as it has come to be known, is currently enjoying unprecedented attention and success. It has also attracted high-profile criticism and impassioned debate. In these wide-ranging essays and interviews, six leading dramatists describe their varying approaches to verbatim, examine the strengths and weaknesses of its techniques and explore the reasons for its current popularity. They discuss frankly the unique opportunities and ethical dilemmas that arise when portraying real people on stage, and consider some of the criticisms levelled at this controversial documentary form.


'The intention is always to arrive at the truth.' - Nicolas Kent

Verbatim, Verbatim: Contemporary Documentary

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    A Paperback / softback by Will Hammond, Dan Steward

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      Book details

      Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
      Published 15 July 2008
      ISBN-13 9781840026979
      978-1840026979
      ISBN-10 1840026979
      Also in:
      Poetry Entertainment Theatre studies

      Description

      Book Synopsis

      Five specially commissioned discussions of verbatim theatre - in the words of the people who make it.


      'What a verbatim play does is flash your research nakedly. It’s like cooking a meal but the meat is left raw.’ - Max Stafford-Clark


      Plays which use people’s actual words as the basis for their dramaare not a new phenomenon. But from the stages of national theatres to fringe venues and universities everywhere, ‘verbatim’ theatre, as it has come to be known, is currently enjoying unprecedented attention and success. It has also attracted high-profile criticism and impassioned debate. In these wide-ranging essays and interviews, six leading dramatists describe their varying approaches to verbatim, examine the strengths and weaknesses of its techniques and explore the reasons for its current popularity. They discuss frankly the unique opportunities and ethical dilemmas that arise when portraying real people on stage, and consider some of the criticisms levelled at this controversial documentary form.


      'The intention is always to arrive at the truth.' - Nicolas Kent

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