Picking up the bill: unravelling the truth and paying for the damage incurred

Abstract

This Performance as Research attempts to address the difficulties of having a constructive conversation around race and colonialism in the public square with a theatrical work. The research is creative and artistic in nature. Storytelling, ritual and ceremony are the primary performative devices used in the work. The researchers embarked on a process of writing and performing stories of mythical, symbolic and personal relevance, with the aim of investigating the effect upon themselves as researchers. Drawing from a range of mythologies, stories may evoke empathy and understanding in the listener, vital elements when entering conversation about emotionally charged topics. The aim, therefore is to propose a creative solution to the conversation – telling out stories through theatre may give them fuller expression and invite the listener to hear them with open ears, to have compassion, and to perhaps to reach for a place of greater understanding. The research consists of a performance, theorising around the principles that informed it, and reflection upon the performance once it had been staged. The findings take the form of questions around our willingness to share ourselves with others, the fear that evokes, and possible routes forward in the conversation. These will be addressed in a final performative submission to be made at a later date after conversation with witnesses of the original performance.