Papers by Clare Summerskill
Routledge eBooks, Sep 13, 2020
Offering a roadmap for practicing verbatim theatre (plays created from oral histories), this book... more Offering a roadmap for practicing verbatim theatre (plays created from oral histories), this book outlines theatre processes through the lens of oral history and draws upon oral history scholarship to bring best practices from that discipline to theatre practitioners. This book opens with an overview of oral history and verbatim theatre, considering the ways in which existing oral history debates can inform verbatim theatre processes and highlights necessary ethical considerations within each field, which are especially prevalent when working with narrators from marginalised communities. It provides a step-by-step guide to creating plays from interviews and contains practical guidance for determining the scope of a theatre project: identifying narrators and conducting interviews, developing a script from excerpts of interview transcripts and outlining a variety of ways to create verbatim theatre productions. By bringing together this explicit discussion of oral history in relationship to theatre based on personal testimonies, the reader gains insight into each field and the close relationship between the two. Supported by international case studies that cover a wide range of working methods and productions, including The Laramie Project and Parramatta Girls, this is the perfect guide for oral historians producing dramatic representations of the material they have sourced through interviews, and for writers creating professional theatre productions, community projects or student plays. Clare Summerskill is an independent academic researcher who has recently completed her PhD at Royal Holloway University of London in the Drama department. She is chair and co-founder of the UK's Oral History Society LGBTQ Special Interest Group. She is also a playwright, stand-up and singer-songwriter. Practicing Oral History Series editor, Nancy MacKay For more information, or to place orders visit Routledge, Practicing Oral History, https://www.routledge.com/Practicing-Oral-History/book-series/POHLCP Museums, historical societies, libraries, classrooms, cultural centers, refugee organizations, elder care centers, and neighborhood groups are among the organizations that use oral history both to document their own communities and to foster social change. The Practicing Oral History series addresses the needs of these professionals with concise, instructive books about applying oral history best practices within the context of their professional goals. Titles fall into one of three areas of applied oral history. The first format addresses a specific stage or skill within the oral history process. The second addresses the needs of professional communities who use oral history in their field. The third approach addresses the way oral history can be used to make an impact. Each title provides practical tools, ethical guidelines and best practices for conducting, preserving, and using oral histories within the framework of acknowledged standards and best practices. Readers across a wide array of disciplines will find the books useful, including education, public history, local history, family history, communication and media, cultural studies, gerontology, documentary studies, museum & heritage studies, and migration studies.
International Journal of Research in Economics and Social Sciences, Apr 3, 2018
Routledge eBooks, Mar 7, 2022
This article focuses upon the reflections, as provided in a follow-up interview, of an older lesb... more This article focuses upon the reflections, as provided in a follow-up interview, of an older lesbian who, after being interviewed about her dishonourable discharge from the Royal Navy in 1970, as an audience member, saw parts of her life story being enacted on stage in a piece of verbatim theatre. I examine the concept of shame, as experienced historically by older lesbians and gay men, and, specifically, in regard to this narrator. I discuss how the experience of a lesbian narrator being interviewed by a sympathetic 'insider', that is, someone who shared her sexual orientation, and then seeing an actress on stage speaking her own words, provided a path to self-respect, positive identification and pride.
Verbatim theatre processes which draw on interview content from living people are inherently open... more Verbatim theatre processes which draw on interview content from living people are inherently open to accusations of appropriation, if not exploitation. However, scholarship addressing the experience of those who are interviewed for such productions, particularly those from marginlised communities, is sparse. This thesis asks what key issues need to be addressed by theatre makers when interview material from contributors is sought and employed within a verbatim script. Can an 'insider' positioning of theatre makers in relation to those they interview (where the playwright is from the same community and has shared experiences) produce a richer level of disclosure, a deeper level of trust in the project and a sense of co-creation on the part of the contributors? As a theatre maker of many years' standing, I wanted to explore whether a shift from a 'mining' or extractive relationship to one of reciprocity and co-production within professionally produced verbatim theatre can be facilitated by addressing the practices of theatre makers. To examine this question, I have discussed the working processes of several practitioners (including Christine Bacon and Della Pollock, who I interviewed) and have also reflected upon some of my own plays, analysing follow-up interviews with contributors. My research demonstrated how risks can be mitigated and it also identified ways in which contributors can benefit from their involvement. It revealed that follow-up interviews with contributors provide much-needed documentation about their experience of verbatim theatre processes. Crucial to this enquiry, this thesis showed how existing debates and practice within oral history can inform and enhance ethical practice in plays created from interviews with living people. This thesis has demonstrated that contributors' narratives cannot simply be regarded as source material for playwrights, but that the experience of contributors in verbatim theatre processes must now be foregrounded in verbatim theatre practice and scholarship.
Creating Verbatim Theatre from Oral Histories, 2020
New Directions in Queer Oral History, 2022
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Papers by Clare Summerskill
As a theatre maker of many years’ standing, I wanted to explore whether a shift from a ‘mining’ or extractive relationship to one of reciprocity and co-production within professionally produced verbatim theatre can be facilitated by addressing the practices of theatre makers. To examine this question, I have discussed the working processes of several practitioners (including Christine Bacon and Della Pollock, who I interviewed) and have also reflected upon some of my own plays, analysing follow-up interviews with contributors.
My research demonstrated how risks can be mitigated and it also identified ways in which contributors can benefit from their involvement. It revealed that follow-up interviews with contributors provide much-needed documentation about their experience of verbatim theatre processes. Crucial to this enquiry, this thesis showed how existing debates and practice within oral history can inform and enhance ethical practice in plays created from interviews with living people.
This thesis has demonstrated that contributors’ narratives cannot simply be regarded as source material for playwrights, but that the experience of contributors in verbatim theatre processes must now be foregrounded in verbatim theatre practice and scholarship.