"Stirring up shadows": The Potential of Verbatim Theatre to revolutionise International Human Rights

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Since the 18th-century Enlightenment, drama has been associated with ideas of moral philosophy and human rights. Theatres have been public spaces for promoting social and political reforms (FitzGerald et al., 2020). In Ireland theatre has been used both as a revolutionary tool and as a cultural healer, providing a 'peace product' to the ongoing Northern Irish peace process (Pilkington, 2010; Grant, 2016). Broadly defined as a collaborative process, involving the use of voice, movement, and shared ideas on stage to create meaning (Bickerstaff, 2011), theatre's potential for bearing witness to human rights abuses in its subjects has been well documented (Madison, 2010; Jeffers, 2012). The ways in which theatre embodies the object of human rights, exhibiting fundamental freedoms in its practice, have rarely been theorised. I will consider how theatre's unique power as an ephemeral, participatory and representative art form can be used to reform international human rights, which have almost exclusively been considered through legal discourse. Verbatim theatre is distinct from other theatre forms by re-creating the recorded speech of real individuals on stage (Derbyshire and Hodson, 2008). My research will focus on the truth-telling mission of verbatim theatre, conceptualising this decentralised form of drama as a blueprint for addressing the alienation caused by top-down approaches to international human rights.Central research questions to be explored:(1) To what extent, and in what ways, can drama help to shed light on the current problems associated with the role of law in international human rights discourse? It will consider the formalistic, Western-centric origins of international human rights instruments.(2) What is the status of human rights laws as represented in the four selected verbatim plays? This will entail critical analysis of the plays' craft and exposition of the failures of the legal and human rights systems.(3) What are the ethical concerns particular to verbatim theatre and how can they be addressed? To answer this question, poststructuralist and moral theory will be invoked to explore the concept of 'authorship' and the ownership of testimonies.(4) How can theatre provide a framework for advancing international human rights? This will involve consideration of how verbatim theatre models engage with socio-political issues and provide a voice for the voiceless.Verbatim theatre is seen as an effective means of addressing political situations and human rights issues in particular because it offers a specific kind of theatrical experience - 'real people saying real things about extraordinarily important events' (Norton-Taylor, quoted in Derbyshire and Hodson, p.199). I will critically evaluate the ethics of verbatim models and hope to conduct interviews with verbatim theatre practitioners in Northern Ireland. This will imbue my research with a local context and will shed light on the process of repurposing human testimonies. I will consider these editorial and production processes with a view to how they might be applied to international human rights, to redefine the limits that are necessarily imposed on social, economic, and cultural rights in terms of their scope and justiciability.The project will analyse four verbatim plays: The Colour of Justice, edited by Richard Norton-Taylor (1999); Guantánamo: 'Honor Bound to Defend Freedom,' by Victoria Brittain and Gillian Slovo (2004); My Name is Rachel Corrie, edited by Alan Rickman and Katharine Viner (2005); and Bloody Sunday: Scenes from the Saville Inquiry, edited by Richard Norton-Taylor (2005). I will consult the documentary playscripts alongside archival material relating to the productions, so my research situates the plays in their socio-political contexts. All four productions premiered at London's Tricycle Theatre (now the Kiln Theatre) and have been selected for study due to their exposure of human rights failures.