Public Performance, Personal Story: A Study of Playback Theatre By Rea Dennis This material is made publicly available by the Centre for Playback Theatre and remains the intellectual property of its author. The Centre for Playback Theatre www.playbackcentre.org Public Performance, Personal Story: A study of Playback Theatre Rea Dennis B.Appl.Sc., Chemistry (Queensland University of Technology) Grad. Dip. Teach, Secondary (Australian Catholic University) Grad. Cert. Arts, Creative Writing (Queensland University of Technology) Research Masters, Social Work & Social Policy (University of Queensland) School of Vocational, Technology & Arts Education Faculty of Education Griffith University This thesis is submitted in fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy 13 April 2004 The Centre for Playback Theatre www.playbackcentre.org Statement of Originality This work has not been previously submitted for a degree or diploma in any university. To the best of my knowledge and belief, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis itself. ………………………………………….. 13 / 04 /2004 The Centre for Playback Theatre www.playbackcentre.org Acknowledgements Don't take it too seriously. Hold on tightly, let go lightly. (Peter Brook, 1989). I am indebted to Dawn Byrne for her untiring support and uncompromising belief in me throughout the research journey and in all of my life. Deepest gratitude to the members, past and present, of the Brisbane Playback Theatre Company. Your insight in welcoming and your forbearance in participating in this research are appreciated. To the performers in the eight events: Kris Plowman, Jen Barrkman, Brigid Hirschfeld, Anna Heriot, Rebecca Jones, Hanna Jenkin, Adrian White, Sandra Collins, Ann Bermingham and Bruce Austin. It was wonderful to have you enter the liminal zone of research with me. Thanks to Dawn, Craig, Rebecca & Kris who have been committed and enthusiastic reflective partners at crucial times during the process and Company members Jen, Brigid and Anna who made themselves available for reflective discussions. In appreciation of Lesley Chenoweth, Anna Heriot, and Bev Hosking, companions along the way who sustained and assisted me to maintain my enthusiasm and easiness in the way in which Peter Brook suggests above. I also recognise the contribution of my Playback Theatre teachers and peers who expressed interest in my project and initiated conversations with me. To friends and family who undertook vital ancillary roles as co-observers, discussion facilitators, front of house, and tech support, Ann Bermingham, Julie Newdick, Peter Howie, Marion Black, Helen Bub-Connor, and Bradley Connor, great to have you there; and those who read and proofread my drafts - Trish Murdoch, Ingrid Burkett and Helen Bub-Connor. Special thanks to The Austins and Rosie Dennis for coffees and chats. I acknowledge my academic supervisors: Lesley Chenoweth and Mary Ann Hunter at UQ and Bruce Burton & Penny Bundy at Griffith University. Their contributions to the realisation of this thesis are many. Significant for me has been the way in which each of them engaged with and questioned my work. I enjoyed significant scholarly fellowship with John Stevenson and wish to thank him and my postgraduate peers, Kennedy, Ross, Patrick, Maureen, Rayliegh, Gai, Gary and Chris. I gratefully acknowledge my VTA Tea Room comrades and Dianne Burns & Jo Waddell who made writing a social as well as an intellectual pursuit. Thanks to the universities that housed me: Griffith University and The University of Queensland, and the Scholarship Awards that provided financial support: The Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship and (GU) Completion Assistance Postgraduate Research Scholarship. Finally, to the many audience members who agreed to speak to me about their experiences of Playback Theatre, who feature on the pages of this thesis, thank you. The Centre for Playback Theatre www.playbackcentre.org Abstract In this study I explore the hybrid ritual performance form of Playback Theatre through audience members' experiences. The particular Playback Theatre application under consideration is the one-off community-based event. Selected writing from the Playback Theatre practice field assists in the establishment of the study focus. Literature from performance and ritual theory provides a framework for the inquiry. Theory about stories and storytelling offers a complementary lens that acknowledges the centrality of personal story in Playback Theatre. Contemporary writing about the experience of community is included to illuminate the experience of the public-private convergence in the Playback Theatre event. This study adds the voices of audience members to the writing about Playback Theatre from a practitioner perspective. The research has been undertaken using an ethnographic approach that draws on participant observation, informal group and individual interviews and researcher reflexivity. Audience members engage in the one-off community-based Playback Theatre performance as participants and spectators. The study finds that the ritual framework offered by Playback Theatre is central to creating an environment for participation through the encouragement of flow experiences. Audience members' desire and capacity to participate is influenced by their initial engagement and their on-going negotiation of the tension of participation that is evoked through the repeated invitation implicit in the form. As participants, audience members' focus tends to be predominately on themselves as they resolve numerous responses to the invitation to participate. In order to accomplish this, many audience members engage in reflective distance, a momentary moving away from the liminal pull of the performance with the The Centre for Playback Theatre www.playbackcentre.org intention of re-entering. A resistance to surrendering to the invitation to participate challenges some audience members. The study identifies a number of barriers to participation. The focus on self that the invitation to participate creates is transformed when a storyteller emerges from the audience, at which point, audience members shift to focus on the teller. This constitutes a period of deep listening where audience members demonstrate a commitment to hearing the teller and appreciating the performers. While spectating, audience members experience connection to the teller and connection to the ideas presented in their stories. Watching the enactment they may have this experience expanded or heightened through the amalgamation of the multiple perspectives that the actors evoke as they interpret the story in the dramatised enactment. The collective experience of spectating yields multiple moments of communitas. This might be impeded if an individual has a persistent story they feel reluctant to tell or if an audience member is featured in a story told by another. The after-show period is shown to be an intrinsic part of the ritual event facilitating the incorporation of the experience for audience members as they prepare to re-enter the ordinary social world. This occurs through on-going storytelling and reflective discussion. The informal nature of this period is insufficient for some audience members who may require specific debriefing. The one-off community-based Playback Theatre performance is an opportunity for people to gather as a community and to tell and listen to stories. This requires an interactive process of risking and listening and provides audience members with an opportunity to see themselves and to see The Other. The study concludes that the application of Playback Theatre in this context is a metaphor for community. The Centre for Playback Theatre www.playbackcentre.org Information for Readers Identifying Material Informants' Names Informants' names have been changed for privacy and for consistency in the text. Initially, some informants elected to be identified. This felt congruent with the philosophy of the Playback Theatre process and the way in which participants are enabled to present themselves and their stories. Due to the contextual nature of the performance data, the decision has been made to change all names to avoid implicating others through identifying material associated with the named person. Explanation of codes used for quoted material. The content of this thesis is based on personal testimony and observation. Throughout the thesis I use excerpts from the interview transcripts, the performance transcripts and the reflective journal. These excerpts are edited to maximise ease of reading. The appendices show samples of unedited transcripts from each data. Quoted materials not included in appendices are stored on CD-ROM and are catalogued in identical fashion to what is shown in the samples. For an explanation of the way in which direct quotes are identified see Chapter 4. The Centre for Playback Theatre www.playbackcentre.org TABLE OF CONTENTS My Story....................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER ONE: Introduction................................................................................................. 6 1.1 Research Questions ............................................................................................7 1.2 Method ...............................................................................................................8 1.3 Findings .............................................................................................................8