Towards docuvention: the multiplicities of documentary practices in Practice as Research (PaR) Applied Theatre

ABSTRACT

Knowledge production exists through documentation. However, for Practice as Research (PaR) Applied Theatre to operate as a site of knowledge production, I argue for the necessity of implementing docuvention. Docuvention is the endeavour to document as a form of care practice, which seeks to concurrently document and intervene. Through the documentation practices of ‘A Home on the Island’, a series of transnational PaR Applied Theatre projects, I propose multimodality, multifocality and multipresence as ways of formulating strategies to advance docuvention. Through these strategies, practitioners of PaR Applied Theatre are able to chart subjectivity, shift perspectives and sustain care.

KEYWORDS:

• Documentation
• intervention
• ethics
• care
• Practice as Research Applied Theatre

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Acknowledgements

My gratitude especially goes to the Nanyang Sisters, the Shigang Mamas, my long-term collaborators Chen Shu-hui and Lee Show-shun, and research assistant Daniel Sim Yong En. The project is generously supported by the Department of English Language and Literature and the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at the National University of Singapore through the Undergraduate Overseas Initiative fund.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributor

Peilin Liang is Assistant Professor of Theatre Studies at the National University of Singapore. Her research interests include performer training, interculturalism and applied theatre. Her works have appeared with Theatre Topics, Contemporary Theatre Review, Research in Drama Education, Theatre Research International, Performance Research, and Inter-Asia Cultural Studies. She is the author of Bodies and Transformance in Taiwanese Contemporary Theater (Routledge, 2019).

Notes

1. For related discussions, see Lindsay Prior (2011), Maarit Alasuutari and Helga Kelle (2015), Susan M. Sterett (2016), Steffen Jensena et al. (2017).

2. From 23–27 February, 2019, we conducted ‘A Home on the Island (5): Body, Labour and Gender’ in Shigang, Taiwan.

3. Our collaboration with the Nanyang Sisters ended due to their busy schedule and commitment with advocacy projects elsewhere. Shortly after we completed Part 2, the Nanyang Sisters embarked on making a music CD album of their own.

4. I am inspired by Fischer-Lichte's concept of varied presences. See Erika Fischer-Lichte (2012).