The ‘Not Knowns’: memory, narrative and applied theatre

ABSTRACT

This is an attempt to articulate and explore the relationship between the science of memory and the applied theatre project, The Not Knowns. The project was a collaboration between theatre practitioners and a psychologist who worked together with a group of young people known, problematically, as the ‘not knowns’ throughout 2014. For applied theatre practitioners, notions of veracity are crucial, if complex, and go far beyond the practice of ‘giving voice’ to marginalised groups and people. Applied Theatre projects which work with participant autobiographies take on the responsibility of articulating the perspective as one of many possible truths, observing conventions which sustain a truth claim, but leaving this open for questioning. In this essay, the project collaborators examine the implications of the notion of memory as adaptable and malleable, as a factor in stasis or change, and as a story that may and must be re-told and re-remembered in an act of self-sustaining performativity.

KEYWORDS:

• Memory
• psychology
• playwriting
• narrative
• theatre

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Colette Conroy is a Senior Lecturer in Drama at the University of Hull. She is the author of Theatre & The Body (Palgrave, 2010) and has published widely on the connections between politics, bodies and performance. Most recently, she has published work about disability cultures and sport. She has a background as a theatre maker. She is currently working on a book project about the philosopher Jacques Rancière and the implications of his thought for applied and social theatre practices.

Sarah Jane Dickenson works as a playwright-researcher, frequently choosing to practice in applied and social fields. She has worked extensively with large and small casts in participatory and community settings. Recent experience includes working with Graeae Theatre Company. Her latest plays to go in to print are CBA and That Berlin Moment, both published by Barbican Press.

Giuliana Mazzoni is Professor of Psychology at the University of Hull She has published in the most prestigious journals in the area (e.g. Psychological Science, Journal of Experimental Psychology) and has overall more than 160 publications. Her work has been featured by many media, including the BBC; Channel 4; ITV; Swedish National TV; Italian National TV and Sky TV.

ORCID

Colette Conroy http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4455-7930

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Wellcome Trust [grant number WT102619A1A].