Personal stories in applied theatre contexts: redefining the blurred lines

ABSTRACT

Personal stories have been utilised in a variety of ways in Applied Theatre practices. The author problematises their use when the teller's safety is at stake within a given context. Inspired by neuro-anatomist Jill Bolte-Taylor's process of enlightenment through observing her stroke from the inside out, the author uses her personal experience of sharing and staging her narrative to ask questions of ethics, representation, autonomy, and agency for the teller; all of which are intrinsic elements necessary to an ethical approach to community-based theatre practices. A number of other projects and reflections by various practitioners are mentioned in this article to examine the different progressive stages inherent in relaying and staging personal narratives. This paper concludes with proposing protocols to help the teller glean the benefits of empowerment through sharing and staging their personal narrative.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethics of practice
• personal stories
• community-based theatre

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Yasmine Kandil is Assistant Professor of Applied Theatre at the Department of Dramatic Arts, Brock University. Her areas of research are in Theatre for Development, Applied Theatre in the Middle East and in particular post-revolution Egypt, and how theatre can be used as means of empowerment for disenfranchised communities. Yasmine's practice has been in Cairo, using Theatre for Development with children and adults, and in Victoria, Canada, focusing on community-based theatre with immigrant and refugee communities. Her most recent work is published in the Applied Theatre Research Journal under the title: Theatre for Development in the Slums of Cairo: the impact on a disempowered community.