Research-based theatre across disciplines: A relational approach to inquiry

Abstract

Research-based theatre (RbT) is an innovative research methodology that draws on theatre practices and conventions to engage in and share research. It is an inherently collaborative and relational methodology, inviting research participants, artists and researchers to take part in embodied data generation, analysis and knowledge-exchange activities. This methodology encompasses writing, rehearsing and performing a research-based monologue, scene or play. In this article, the authors share three recent examples from interdisciplinary projects where researchers and artists engaged with different communities to dramatize data using an RbT methodological approach. To add to literature in the field, the authors consider their experiences leading RbT projects in three disparate fields: theatrical, social and therapeutic. The authors explore the question of how RbT transforms relationships and how relationships transform RbT.

Great-Grandmother, Grandmother, Mother, and Me: A Search for My Roots through Research-based theatre

“…In RbT, theatre and academic research are interwoven, and most often include theatre, art-based research, and qualitative research methodologies (Lea and Belliveau 2020). Understood thus, RbT differs from other research approaches in the field of performing and visual arts as it interweaves the scholarly and the aesthetic (Shigematsu et al 2021(Shigematsu et al , 2022. Most of my research in narrative inquiry to date involves working with narratives over a long period of time (Lyngstad and Blix 2023;Lyngstad 2021), and I have never performed the results as an autoethnodrama or research-based play.…”

ReformED: Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Research Methods in Research-Based Theatre

“…We read research about why teachers were leaving the profession and then went to local elementary schools (with students aged 5-11), middle schools (students aged [11][12][13][14], and high schools (students aged [14][15][16][17][18] to see if we could identify those trends at the local level. Each student went into schools with their own queries based on research, and this informed the ethnographic notes they took.…”

“…I wanted to understand how a profession often viewed as a calling could become a source of anxiety, depression and, in some cases, trauma. I started with these questions, and Research-Based Theatre (RBT) provided a framework to share the findings as a form of "knowledge exchange" with teachers, legislators, and those beyond education "to make the challenges faced by these communities visible to broader audiences" [11] (p. 56).…”

“…The role and relationship of the audience to the piece of embodied research influences how the research will be presented. The relational nature of the research to the performance and of the performance to the audience is an essential understanding in RBT [11] (p. 56). These elements are intertwined and influence each other greatly.…”

Yarning Up Relations: Enacting a Relational Ethics in Cross-Cultural Research-Based Theater

“…Essential to its success is the ability of practitioners to hold the complexities and conflicts of these relationships within a space of safety and generosity in order for creativity to flourish. Shigematsu and colleagues (2021) make the case for RbT as a “relational approach to inquiry,” dependent upon an embodied process of relational knowledge exchange among researchers, participants, and audiences.…”