ABSTRACT
As the second of two chapters relating to ethical considerations in verbatim theatre work, this chapter focusses on plays created from interviews with members of marginalised communities and vulnerable narrators. At times, verbatim theatre has been seen as giving ‘a voice to the voiceless’, but this description is problematic because of the power imbalances that occur between those who write the plays and those who provide the narratives. Although verbatim theatre allows recorded stories, experiences and views of those whose voices may often go unheard in a society to gain a wider audience, the playwright still wields a heavy editorial hand when it comes to making decisions about how the interview content is theatrically presented.
A related concern, inherent in verbatim theatre processes, is whether one person who claims to speak for another might be doing more harm than good? This is because, however well-meaning their intentions, the interviewer or researcher, in claiming to represent another, can potentially take the voice away from those for whom one claims to speak.
Finally, this chapter turns to a brief examination of ethical concerns that arise in the creation of plays based on interviews with asylum seekers and refugees. Over recent years, in many countries, and Australia in particular, there has been a notable rise in the number of plays based on interviews with such narrators. There are significant ethical risks in interviewing people who have suffered trauma or persecution, and these must be addressed by any playwright during their working process. But the potential also exists for narrators to attain benefits from their involvement with the creation of a dramatic portrayal of their narratives and these are also explored.
