Documentary and verbatim theatre

Verbatim theatre is a form of documentary theatre which is based on the spoken words of real people. Strictly, verbatim theatre-makers use real people’s words exclusively and take this testimony from recorded interviews. Documentary theatre by contrast encompasses other found sources such as newspaper articles and diaries.

Common to both however is that plays in these genres are constructed using the words of real people, a qualitatively different and unusual challenge for actors as compared to portraying fictional characters. This project explores this difference and attempts to understand how actors negotiate the ethics of playing a real person and how these considerations shape their performance.

To this end the project produced several output products including the 2013 monograph, Acting in Documentary Theatre, exploring the political and ethical demands of playing a real person. In addition, Tom Cantrell has edited documentary plays, most notably Clocking In: Life in the Chocolate City, a professionally produced documentary play directed by Katie Posner and produced by Pilot Theatre.

This project worked with students in the School of ACT to edit the play from interviews conducted with York residents who had worked in the Rowntree's and Terry's chocolate factories. It was performed in the York Cocoa House in the Summer of 2013 to 12 sell-out audiences.

• Project dates: January 2016 - January 2020
• Project lead: Tom Cantrell