A Research-based Theatre text and its development, recreating conversations about Indigenous content and concepts in Secondary school and Tertiary drama classes

Abstract

As the primary focus of this article, the writers recreate, in the form of a Research-based Theatre (RbT) script, their conversations over Zoom which began during the Covid years where they discussed, debated, dissected, and compared theirs and others’ practice when working as educators teaching Indigenous content and concepts in drama in their respective countries - Auckland (Ngati Paoa), Aotearoa New Zealand, and the lands and waterways of the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin nation in Melbourne, Australia. Their RbT personas discuss how non-Indigenous drama/theatre practitioners/artists may give voice and scope to underrepresented Indigenous communities, whilst eschewing cultural insensitivities and appropriation of practices and traditions. Both being RbT practitioners yet never having previously worked together in this way the writers set themselves the challenge of crafting a performance script from their Zoom conversations which took place over several months between 2020 and 2023. As well as featuring the version of their script which they presented at the second Australian Research-based Theatre Symposium (held in 2024) this article highlights the processes they undertook to develop the RbT script and the challenges it afforded them.