Rinne, N. (2022). “Are you for real : writing verbatim performance with ethnographer’s tools.” Scriptum : Creative Writing Research Journal.9(2).

DOI: 10.17011/scriptum/2022/2/5

Verbatim technique connects concepts such as ‘actual’, ‘real’, ‘original’ and ‘authentic’ to theatre, performance art and creativity. In this article, I consider the roles of creativity, art, veracity and reality when composing a performance text that is based on the ‘actual words’ of ‘real people’. What is the truth claim in verbatim performance, and how does it operate together with artistic creativity? My approach is that of an artistic researcher conducting research with children. When I collect materials for my verbatim performances, I use many of the same techniques and methods that childhood studies ethnographers use in their fieldwork. The performative turn in social sciences, with post qualitative inquiries and non-representational methodologies, and the educational turn in art, bring these fields even closer together. Both fields face the questions of veracity and creativity without any simple oppositional structure. I claim that, instead of concentratin ...

Publisher: Department of Music, Art and Culture Studies

ISSN: 2342-6039

Key words: verbatim performance; artethnography; creativity; veracity