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

自18世纪启蒙运动以来，戏剧一直与道德哲学和人权观念联系在一起。剧院已经成为促进社会和政治改革的公共空间（FitzGerald et al., 2020）。在爱尔兰，戏剧既被用作革命工具，也被用作文化治疗者，为正在进行的北爱尔兰和平进程提供了“和平产品”（皮尔金顿，2010；格兰特，2016）。戏剧被广泛定义为一种协作过程，涉及在舞台上使用声音、动作和共享的想法来创造意义（Bickerstaff, 2011），戏剧在其主题中见证侵犯人权行为的潜力已经得到了很好的记录（Madison, 2010; Jeffers, 2012）。戏剧体现人权目标的方式，在其实践中展示基本自由的方式，很少被理论化。我将考虑戏剧作为一种短暂的、参与性的和代表性的艺术形式的独特力量如何被用来改革国际人权，这几乎完全是通过法律话语来考虑的。逐字剧场有别于其他戏剧形式，它再现了舞台上真实个体的录音演讲（Derbyshire and Hodson, 2008）。我的研究将集中在逐字剧场的真实使命上，将这种分散的戏剧形式概念化为解决由自上而下的国际人权方法造成的异化的蓝图。有待探讨的中心研究问题：(1)戏剧能在多大程度上和以何种方式帮助阐明与法律在国际人权话语中的作用有关的当前问题？它将考虑国际人权文书的形式主义和以西方为中心的起源。(2)在选定的四部逐字剧本中，人权法的地位如何？这将需要对戏剧的工艺进行批判性分析，并揭示法律和人权制度的失败。(3)逐字剧场的伦理问题是什么？如何解决这些问题？为了回答这个问题，我们将援引后结构主义和道德理论来探讨“作者身份”的概念和证词的所有权。(4)戏剧如何为促进国际人权提供框架？这将涉及考虑逐字剧场模式如何参与社会政治问题，并为无声者提供声音。逐字逐句的戏剧被认为是解决政治局势和人权问题的有效手段，特别是因为它提供了一种特殊的戏剧体验——“真实的人对非常重要的事件说真实的事情”（诺顿-泰勒，引用于德比郡和霍德森，第199页）。我将批判性地评估逐字模型的伦理，并希望与北爱尔兰的逐字戏剧从业者进行访谈。这将使我的研究具有当地背景，并将阐明重新利用人类证词的过程。我将考虑这些编辑和制作过程，着眼于如何将它们应用于国际人权，重新定义在其范围和可诉性方面对社会、经济和文化权利施加的必要限制。该项目将逐字分析四个剧本：由理查德·诺顿-泰勒编辑的《正义的颜色》（1999）；Guantánamo：维多利亚·布里顿和吉莉安·斯洛沃2004年的《荣誉注定捍卫自由》（Honor Bound to Defend Freedom）；艾伦·里克曼和凯瑟琳·维纳编辑的《我叫瑞秋·科里》（2005年）；以及理查德·诺顿-泰勒编辑的《血腥星期日：萨维尔调查场景》（2005）。我将参考纪录片剧本以及与制作相关的档案材料，因此我的研究将戏剧置于其社会政治背景中。所有四部作品都在伦敦三轮车剧院（现为窑剧院）首演，并因揭露人权失败而被选中进行研究。

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.