Oral History Society Training
Transcript to Script: Turning oral history into plays for stage and radio
Course Dates | Programme | Booking Form
This new joint British Library/Oral History Society course will present a brief history of the genre and an overview of the various forms which oral history theatre can take,such as strict documentary (or 'verbatim') theatre using named individuals, the creation of a set of fictional characters using 'actuality' dialogue, the use of oral history as research material for scripting, and improvisation around memory without transcript. Using illustrations from various productions, there will be an examination of the ground rules for turning verbatim into dialogue, of the use of music, song and non-verbal storytelling in oral history theatre, of the incorporation of documentary history (as opposed to oral history) elements into the script, of the overall shaping of the work and of the contract with the audience. The course will involve practical activity, actually turning transcript into dialogue and action. By the end of the day participants should have a clear idea of the options open to them for creating theatre from oral history and have acquired some of the basic skills for putting together such a script. In addition participants will have learned about the major artistic, ethical and legal issues involved. No previous experience as a playwright is necessary and previous attendance at the oral history basic training course, while desirable, is not required.
The tutor, Rib Davis, is a BL/OHS-accredited trainer and over the past thirty years has been interviewer/writer/director for many oral history-based community plays and radio drama productions.
Course Dates
7th April 2010Foyle Learning Centre, British Library Centre for Conservation, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
12th October 2010
Foyle Learning Centre, British Library Centre for Conservation, 96 Euston Road, London NW1 2DB
Programme
10.00-11.15 - Introduction to oral history-based theatre
- Brief history of genre including the Radio Ballads, Victoria Theatre in Stoke, The Living Archive, Age Exchange, the National Theatre and recent BBC productions
- The forms available
- Oral history as research material only
- Fictional characters but words from the tape
- Non-fictional characters: strict and loose forms of documentary/ ‘verbatim’ theatre
- Improvising around memory without transcript
11.15 - 11.30 - Coffee
11.30-12.45 - Telling the story
- Planning the interviews and other research for the project
- Deciding upon what the story actually is
- Shaping the script
- Ground rules for turning verbatim into dialogue
- Use of direct and indirect speech
- Use of music, song and non-verbal story-telling
- Incorporation of non-oral documentary material
- The contract with the audience
- Writing for radio, writing for stage
13.45-15.00 - Practical session: turning supplied material into part of a script
15.00-15.30 - Further examples of creating dialogue
15:30-15.45 - Tea
15.45-17.00 - Comparing results of practical session
17.00-17.30 - Legal and Ethical Issues & Archiving the Script
17.30 Close
(A booking form, in PDF format, can be printed out from here.)
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