Verbatim: Contemporary Documentary Theatre

When we performed Talking to Terrorists at the Royal Court, the Anti-Terrorist Branch at Scotland Yard came to see the play and said they found it very informative.

The purpose of the theatre is not to provide the solutions, but to state the problems more clearly

Peter Cheeseman’s Stoke documentaries; Rolf Hochhuth’s historical excavations; Anna Deavere Smith’s one-person dramatisations: contemporary documentary theatre has a rich heritage to draw on.

Erwin Piscator’s ‘living newspaper

theatre, outside of their imagination

verbatim is not a form, it is a technique; it is a means rather than an end.

providing an opportunity for non-experts to grapple with the detail of important public enquiries for themselves, and in the process, if they’re lucky, to spur a powerful person into positive action.

You look for the laughter and you look for the dialogue, and they’re all helpful points along the way.

You’re not doing impersonations of these people, but you are trying to capture their spirit in some way

One of the problems with some documentary theatre is that it tends to lack scenes between people.