Research & Development

Karen Egan in Worksong Project Brand New, 2008

Throughout my time as a theatre maker I have researched ideas and projects. Some of this R & D has led directly into productions, while some interesting investigations have remained just that, either through the “full stop” of unsuccessful funding applications, or through not quite finding the next step to move the idea along. My sense is that nothing is wasted however and that these projects may still feed into future work.

Much of my early research is written in old notebooks and not readily accessible - something I rue and now try to improve upon - but there are two linked projects (one my masters dissertation), that were well documented (and substantially progressed) and which still hold significant interest for me. I am including them here as they may be of interest to other makers and may, I hope, initiate new conversations.

On this page I’ve included a snapshot of two research projects, including my Masters dissertation project.

In 2007-08 I developed the research project Worksong in collaboration with the composer Fionnuala Conway. This investigation explored the construction of a narrative - both spoken and sung - created from edited verbatim interviews.

The subject matter came from my fractious relationship with work and centred around a series of conversations with people from all walks of life about their attitude to the work they did.

The project helped me to investigate my interest in verbatim theatre and to explore some of the technical and ethical questions to do with the use of other people’s personal material within a performance.

The process involved editing the audio interviews into a performance text and having actors with ear pieces repeating the audio and “channelling” the interviewee, a technique that British theatre maker Alecky Blythe, (after Anna Deavere Smith), had developed, and with which she has gone on to create several highly successful productions.

Mike & Karen, Soho Theatre, 2010

My dissertation - Presence & Authenticity in Theatre of the Real - explores the work of several companies collaborating with “real” people on-stage, including Rimini Protocoll in Germany and Quarantine in the UK. The paper also outlines an action research performance piece featuring real friends Mike and Karen and their pretend doppelgängers played by actors Sean Campion and Charlotte Moore (Soho Theatre, 2010).  

In 2009-10 I undertook a Masters programme at Goldsmiths College in London. The focus was dramaturgy which helped me to develop my understanding and skillset in this area, while also allowing me a further deep dive into non-fiction theatre.