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Tariq Ali Takim

Ms. Katy Bingham

Grade 10 Theatre

30th January 2018

Verbatim Theatre Extended Response:

Verbatim theatre is based on real-life events with a storyline constructed using the words

of the people interviewed. This form of theater is created through interviews with certain people

regarding an event or subject they have experienced relating to the topic of the play ​("An

Introduction" 00:00:03).​ These real-life people are then portrayed on stage by the actors to tell the

story in its true form ​("An Introduction" 00:00:23).​ The dialogue in a real-life story is significantly

different to a made up one because when writing from your imagination you wright from your

assumption of peoples way of life whereas if you go out and collect evidence about people’s

way of life, you learn unexpected things ​("An Introduction" 00:01:00).​ Directors have to keep

evolving this form of theatre making it more sophisticated by adding other components such as

music in order to keep it entertaining because verbatim can get very static ​("An Introduction"

00:02:30). ​Different directors have their own perception of verbatim in terms of how they use the

material from the interviews. Some directors like to stay strictly to the verbatim rules whereas

others may edit a few lines and make minimal tweaks to refine it more for the performance ​("An

Introduction" 00:04:43).​ According to the Cambridge dictionary, the word verbatim means using

the exact same words as were originally used ​(Cambridge Dictionary).​ This is why verbatim

theatre heavily emphasized that the dialogue in all of the scenes are based upon solely the

words of the people interviewed. The director and script makers design a script by combining
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the responses of the interviews to create a narrative ​("An Introduction" 00:00:50).​ Verbatim

requires actors to copy not just what is said but also how it’s said in terms of expressions and

body language ​("An Introduction" 00:04:35).​ This type of theatre can relate better to an audience

because of the unpolished and unsophisticated style of English that is similar to that of a reality

TV show ​(Nunn).​ This is a concept that has been around for as long as we can remember but it

has only really begun to gain popularity over the past 15 years.

The roots of verbatim can date back to the early 50s ​("An Introduction" 00:01:42).​ Many of

the historic plays started in Germany such as the Bentley play and the Steve Breaker Trial

(Corneille).​ American plays such as Are You Now or Have You Ever Been are considered to be

the grandfather of verbatim ​("An Introduction" 00:01:46).​ In the past, this form of theatre was

showcased in the royal court theatre in the 1950s ​(Cantrell).​ Over the past two decades verbatim

has come to occupy a central place in British Theatre and is seen as one of the most incisive

forms of political theatre ​(Cantrell).​ Since the mid-1970s, verbatim theatre is something that has

been used all over Europe with the initial idea inspired by Peter Cheeseman ​(Corneille). ​Some of

the first few productions were directed by Peter Cheeseman who was the artistic director of the

Victoria Theatre in Stoke 1962-1984 ​(Cantrell).​ One of his earliest productions was Fight for

Shelton Bar (1974) which helped a campaign fighting against the closure of major steelworks in

the heart of stoke, and it was performed in the city to an audience of mainly ex-workers

(Cantrell).​ Over time verbatim has moved from the fringes of theatre to the mainstream, seeing

some of the highest profile theatres in the world staging these plays ​(Cantrell).​ Verbatim has

often been used in the past and present to help express political concern amongst a community.
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According to the Guardian, Verbatim theatre does what journalists often fail to do which

is tell the entire story ​(Taylor).​ Verbatim theatre can be very immediate in telling a story and can

be a very useful tool in getting an audience passionate and energized over a topic ​("An

Introduction" 00:04:00).​ The Laramie project was one verbatim piece that shows the relevance of

verbatim theater in documenting real events as it touched the hearts of thousands of Americans

around the country ​(Corneille).​ We could see that there were a lot of mixed emotions over the

death of Matthew Sheppard as a majority of people felt that what was done to Matthew was

wrong and inhumane but some people still believed that he deserved everything that he got

because of the fact he was gay. The whole movement that occurred through the peaceful walks

and LGBT protests after his death shows just how much the public cared about this matter. If it

weren’t for verbatim, the Laramie project wouldn’t have been able to document the entire story

and many people would have still been kept away from the truth of what happened. Verbatim

tends to follow certain ethics when conducting interviews.

The ethics of representing real people on stage is fundamental when doing verbatim

("The Ethics" 00:00:04).​ Ethically you need to let people know that you are interviewing them and

what you hope to get out of that interview. The people who are being represented on stage have

a right to say whether the performance was reported accurately or not ​("The Ethics" 00:01:24).

When an actor is standing up on the stage to represent somebody they have a duty to get it

right and for the people being represented to be satisfied with how they are portrayed on stage

("The Ethics" 00:01:27).​ The director needs to make sure that the people being interviewed are

comfortable with everything that is going on and if they don’t want certain parts of an interview

to be included in the play it’s the director's obligation to ensure that it is not used ​("The Ethics"

00:02:03).​ One strength of verbatim is that if people are feeling uncomfortable with certain lines
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their identities can be hidden by changing the name of that person on stage ​("The Ethics"

00:02:58).​ If it’s possible the actors should try and meet the people who they are portraying in

order to get an understanding of the way they talk, their behavior and their mindset ​("The Ethics"

00:04:21).​ The director has a massive responsibility and must make sure to respect the request

and requirements of the interviewees.

Word Count: 1,057

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Works Cited

Cambridge Dictionary. "Verbatim." ​Cambridge Dictionary​, Cambridge "UP,"

dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/verbatim. Accessed 30 Jan. 2019.

Cantrell, Tom. "Verbatim Theatre." ​Drama Online,​ Bloomsbury Publishing, 2012,

www.dramaonlinelibrary.com/genres/verbatim-theatre-iid-2551. Accessed 30 Jan. 2019.

Corneille, Nick. "The History of Verbatim Theatre & The Laramie Project." ​Prezi​, 1 Oct. 2015,

prezi.com/ecfn5o6nhikq/the-history-of-verbatim-theatre-the-laramie-project/. Accessed

30 Jan. 2019.

"The Ethics of Verbatim Theatre." ​YouTube​, uploaded by National Theatre, 29 Apr. 2014,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=39JSv-n_W5U. Accessed 30 Jan. 2019.

"An Introduction to Verbatim Theatre." ​YouTube​, uploaded by National Theatre, 6 Jan. 2014,

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ui3k1wT2yeM. Accessed 30 Jan. 2019.

Nunn, Gary. "Verbatim Theatre Is like Good Reality TV on Stage." ​TheGuardian,​ Guardian

News and Media, 26 June 2015,

www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2015/jun/26/verbatim-theatre-is-like-g

ood-reality-tv-on-stage. Accessed 30 Jan. 2019.

Taylor, Richard Norton. "Verbatim Theatre Lets the Truth Speak for Itself." ​TheGuardian​,

Guardian News and Media, 31 May 2011,

www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2011/may/31/verbatim-theatre-truth-baha-mous

a. Accessed 30 Jan. 2019.