Manchester University Press
8 ‘I just want it to be your words’
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Sarah Beck
Abstract
In the post-truth era where ‘truth isn’t truth’ (Morin and Cohen, 2018) Dennis Kelly’s prescient yet fraudulent verbatim play Taking Care of Baby (2007) maintains its contemporary resonance. The play forewarns audiences about the frequency and flippancy with which truth-claims are made, our willingness to accept them, and how this dynamic leads to the degradation of truth. In his creation of a ‘fauxbatim’ play Kelly approaches verbatim theatre with epistemological scepticism, experimenting with style and form in order to critique the documentary techniques which underpin the genre. Drawing on original material from an interview with the writer, the chapter argues that Kelly’s subversion of verbatim conventions in Taking Care of Baby poses valuable questions regarding the presentation of ‘true stories’ and appeals to audiences and verbatim theatre-makers to contemplate the ends to which testimonies of personal turmoil are mined for artistic inspiration. At the same time Kelly’s play – in its entanglement with real events – arguably replicates the sins of the form he set out to critique.
Abstract
In the post-truth era where ‘truth isn’t truth’ (Morin and Cohen, 2018) Dennis Kelly’s prescient yet fraudulent verbatim play Taking Care of Baby (2007) maintains its contemporary resonance. The play forewarns audiences about the frequency and flippancy with which truth-claims are made, our willingness to accept them, and how this dynamic leads to the degradation of truth. In his creation of a ‘fauxbatim’ play Kelly approaches verbatim theatre with epistemological scepticism, experimenting with style and form in order to critique the documentary techniques which underpin the genre. Drawing on original material from an interview with the writer, the chapter argues that Kelly’s subversion of verbatim conventions in Taking Care of Baby poses valuable questions regarding the presentation of ‘true stories’ and appeals to audiences and verbatim theatre-makers to contemplate the ends to which testimonies of personal turmoil are mined for artistic inspiration. At the same time Kelly’s play – in its entanglement with real events – arguably replicates the sins of the form he set out to critique.
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of illustrations vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- A foreword xii
- Introduction 1
- I Incubation 19
- 1 DNA in the classroom 21
- 2 Suspended in time and place 39
- 3 ‘I’ll teach you a thing or two’ 55
- II Antibodies 71
- 4 ‘Are you sick, yet? / Are you disgusted, yet?’ 73
- 5 Utopia 90
- 6 Beautiful doom 105
- 7 Subjectivity in Dennis Kelly’s early drama 118
- III False positives 135
- 8 ‘I just want it to be your words’ 137
- 9 ‘What is the difference between made up and real?’ 152
- 10 ‘What else isn’t true?’, or, Dennis Kelly’s expressionism 170
- 11 Atopia 184
- IV Variants 201
- 12 ‘Now look, are you going to tell me a story or not?’ 203
- 13 Dennis Kelly’s The Gods Weep at the Royal Shakespeare Company 217
- 14 Performing stories, engaging audiences 233
- Conclusion 251
- Index 264
- Plates 267
Chapters in this book
- Front Matter i
- Contents v
- List of illustrations vii
- Notes on contributors viii
- A foreword xii
- Introduction 1
- I Incubation 19
- 1 DNA in the classroom 21
- 2 Suspended in time and place 39
- 3 ‘I’ll teach you a thing or two’ 55
- II Antibodies 71
- 4 ‘Are you sick, yet? / Are you disgusted, yet?’ 73
- 5 Utopia 90
- 6 Beautiful doom 105
- 7 Subjectivity in Dennis Kelly’s early drama 118
- III False positives 135
- 8 ‘I just want it to be your words’ 137
- 9 ‘What is the difference between made up and real?’ 152
- 10 ‘What else isn’t true?’, or, Dennis Kelly’s expressionism 170
- 11 Atopia 184
- IV Variants 201
- 12 ‘Now look, are you going to tell me a story or not?’ 203
- 13 Dennis Kelly’s The Gods Weep at the Royal Shakespeare Company 217
- 14 Performing stories, engaging audiences 233
- Conclusion 251
- Index 264
- Plates 267
