MA Theatre Design & MA Digital Theatre

VERBATIM THEATRE: A Test Case

 

“…It was the most significant moment of my life.”

 

 

Verbatim Theatre relies on the telling of the ‘real’ stories and most theatre makers who use these accounts as a starting point aim to honor the ‘truth’ of a testimony. However, the process is fraught with problems and paradoxes through the process of accumulating the material, editing it and then re-presenting it for an audience in the unstable conditions of a live, repeated performance. (Michael Pavelka)

 

 

This project  was an exercise that we had to test the validity of re-presented truths, and develop their possibilities and reflect on how we had exploited  them. We had to find a partner in the group that we assumed to be as different from ourselves as possible and then to make a recording of an interview with that person about a situation that had changed its life completely. (Duration 20 minutes).

 

 

After the recording we had to make an accurate transcript of the interview in order to help us building and designing our performance.

The topic of my interview was based on acceptance. Acceptance the difference of others (Opening the Door). The girl that I interviewed was vegetarian. Her difference was based in her food preferences. According to this I created a theatre performance where my ultimate goal was to communicate Benefits of Being Open to Others. When we get to learn about others and respect our similarities and our differences, we get to learn so much more about the world and about ourselves and this helps us to grow spiritually, instead of stagnating. It also opens the doors to many other opportunities, be they friendships, work prospects, travel possibilities or a wider understanding of the world in which we live. The world would be a very dull place if we were all the same and it’s the incredible diversity amongst people throughout the world that makes it such a fascinating place.We are all the products of our own individual upbringing and experiences so it is completely natural that we will all have differences in ways of lives and opinions on a wide range.

 

Opening The Door

The Plot:

 

It’s a theatre performance which takes place on a small corner of a train station in a waiting area. Two people, a woman 30 years old and man 35 years old. The woman is talking to her phone and the man is reading his newspaper, while both waiting for the train to come. They are ordinary people. An announcement of a total blackout in the city creates the foundation of a memorable and truthful conversation to begin. Advertisements are now in every screen. Foods like cheese, yogurt, burgers, are moving around and surround her like ghosts. She feels under pressure and she can not stand it any more until she shouts that she is a Vegan. An awkward pause exists for two minutes creating a humorous situation for the audience. She takes the first step and she apologizes for her behavior. For some reason she feels safe and she unfolds all the situations that made her feel different in a bad way. She kept talking and talking like it was the end of time. When she finally stopped she realized that the man, to whom she revealed all her dark thoughts, was not able speak for some reason. Now he is taking the leading role and he is ‘communicating’ his experiences through his writing on the paper sheet. Projections are creating the words for him. A new announcement interrupts his ‘speech’. The train has finally come. Both are taking the same train with a smile on their faces and with a warm feeling in their hearts. A feeling which refers to the fact that they are not alone in this world.

 

Images that demonstrate the development of this performance: 

 

1st. The Beginning, 2nd. The Announcement, 3rd. The Advertisements, 4th. The End.