documentary theatre
Enable an agent to recognise documentary theatre, assess how a production turns documentary material into performance, and identify justified actions concerning evidence, representation and reuse.
Bundle → Layer → Finding → Questions Filled
6 bundles · 11 layers · 16 findings · 26 questions
Documentary contract The work's account of what is actual, what is constructed and what spectators are invited to believe.
Claimed actuality
The people, events or conditions the work presents as belonging to the actual world.
Claim and limits
Record the production's documentary claim, who makes it and any explicit limits on completeness or certainty.
- What does this work claim to document, and where do its creators state that claim? definition
- Which scenes or assertions fall outside that claim through invention, speculation or acknowledged uncertainty? boundary
Form boundaries
The relationship between documentary theatre and adjacent theatrical or documentary practices.
Classification basis
Record why documentary theatre is an appropriate classification and whether narrower method labels apply.
- What makes documentary material structurally necessary to this work rather than background for historical fiction? boundary
- Does the work claim a verbatim method, and exactly which material and transformations does that claim cover? definition
Documentary evidence The provenance, context and selection of the material from which the performance constructs its account.
Source lineage
The path from a source's creation or collection to the version used in the production.
Source identity and context
Record source origin, available versions and contextual information needed to interpret an excerpt.
- Who created or supplied each source, when and under what circumstances? provenance
- Which recording, transcript, translation or document version supports each performed excerpt? provenance
Selection and disagreement
How the production chooses among available accounts and treats gaps or contradictions.
Evidentiary selection
Record the selection rationale without equating inclusion with truth or omission with irrelevance.
- How were interviewees and documents selected, and which relevant perspectives were unavailable or excluded? provenance
- Where sources conflict, does the performance preserve the disagreement, choose an account or leave the matter unresolved? boundary
Document to dramaturgy The transformations through which documentary material becomes a theatrical sequence.
Textual transformation
Changes to source wording, attribution and context in the script or performance score.
Passage transformation
Record consequential omissions, translations, rearrangements and combinations at the passage level.
- What changed between the source and the performed passage, including surrounding questions or qualifying language that was removed? provenance
- Does the transformed passage imply a position, exchange or certainty that its source does not support? boundary
Constructed scenes
The use of reconstruction, composites and theatrical arrangement to connect documentary fragments.
Construction and inference
Record where theatrical construction supplies actions, relationships or causal connections absent from the sources.
- Which encounters, characters, timings or causal links are reconstructed or combined rather than directly documented? provenance
- What disclosure or revision is needed if spectators could reasonably mistake this construction for a documented occurrence? action
Embodied testimony How performers and media make documentary voices present, and how represented people participate in that process.
Voice and presence
The relationship between an originating speaker and the person or medium presenting that speaker's words.
Performed attribution
Record speaker-performer mappings and performance choices affecting the apparent credibility or identity of a voice.
- Who originally spoke these words, who presents them now, and how is that relationship made legible to spectators? provenance
- How do accent, gesture, casting, recorded playback or live delivery frame the speaker as credible, vulnerable, comic or suspect? boundary
Participant relationships
The conditions under which testimony and identifiable lives become performance material.
Participation and reuse
Record agreements, expectations and unresolved concerns for the specific contribution and proposed use.
- What was agreed about attribution, anonymity, editing, review, withdrawal and subsequent recording or touring? provenance
- Which proposed changes or uses require renewed consultation or permission under those documented conditions? action
Public accountability How spectators can understand the documentary method and how a production responds to challenges over time.
Audience disclosure
The information available to spectators about sources, transformations and unresolved questions.
Accessible method account
Record which methodological disclosures reach audiences and when they become available.
- Where can spectators discover the source basis, editing methods and use of invented or composite material? provenance
- Do publicity, programme notes and the performance make compatible claims about authenticity and verbatim accuracy? boundary
Challenge and revision
Version-specific handling of disputed representations, new evidence and corrections.
Documentary change record
Record challenges and responses against the relevant script, staging or recording rather than treating the work as fixed.
- Which documentary claims have been challenged, by whom, on what evidence and in relation to which production version? provenance
- What correction, contextual note or performance revision is justified, and how will affected versions and audiences be identified? action
Evidence and external alignment What the world already says about this thing, gathered so the model can be checked against it.
Reported evidence
Findings from the breadth pass, kept separate from the structural claims.
Check these first
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these check these first hold for the sense of documentary theatre this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Kinds and varieties
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these kinds and varieties hold for the sense of documentary theatre this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Real-world use
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these real-world use hold for the sense of documentary theatre this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Failure modes and hazards
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these failure modes and hazards hold for the sense of documentary theatre this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Regional variation
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these regional variation hold for the sense of documentary theatre this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart
Recalled without web access and unsourced; every item is a lead to verify.
- Which of these neighbouring kinds and how to tell them apart hold for the sense of documentary theatre this model covers, and on what evidence? provenance
Classifiers Filled
- Family
- Thing Registry
- Category
- Activities and processes
- Entry kind
- thing
- Plane
- ACT
- Domain
- ACT.ACT
- Other names and narrower kinds
- Verbatim theatre
What it is Filled
Documentary theatre is theatre that uses identifiable records of actual people, events or conditions as substantive material for performance, while selecting, arranging and interpreting that material through theatrical means.
In scope
- A work's documentary claim and the limits it places on that claim
- The provenance, selection and contestation of documents, testimony and other evidentiary material
- Dramaturgical transformations connecting source material to scripts and performances
- The representation of actual people through performers, recordings or self-performance
- Permissions, participant relationships and production-specific safeguards
- Audience-facing disclosure, challenges and corrections to documentary claims
Out of scope
- General theatre production logistics, venue management and technical stagecraft
- Documentary film and other documentary media without a theatrical instance
- Historical fiction whose factual background does not establish a documentary claim
- Archival collection management beyond the materials used by a work
- The complete biographies or histories of represented people and events
- General legal doctrine concerning copyright, privacy or defamation
Why it exists Filled
Enable an agent to recognise documentary theatre, assess how a production turns documentary material into performance, and identify justified actions concerning evidence, representation and reuse.
Distinguishing features Filled
- Ask whether documentary material is constitutive of the work's account of actuality, rather than merely background research for an invented story.
- Ask what relationship the work asserts between performed statements and identifiable testimony, records or other source material; classify an unexplained relationship as unresolved.
- Distinguish verbatim practice by its stated commitment to source wording; do not require every documentary theatre work to make that commitment.
- Distinguish a documentary theatrical work from a lecture or evidence presentation by examining how it organises performance, roles, bodies, space and spectatorship.
- Do not exclude a work solely because it uses reconstruction, composite characters or invented passages; examine whether those transformations and their relationship to the documentary claim are disclosed.
What robots and AI may and may not do Filled
Must not
- Present a theatrical arrangement as an unedited record of events.
- Use real people's words or stories in a script without the consent or legal basis the production requires.
- Reveal the identity of a source who spoke on condition of anonymity.
- Misattribute statements to real people.
Only with a human decision
- Publishing scripts or recordings that include testimony from identifiable living people.
- Staging material about victims of recent violence or ongoing legal cases.
May
- Describe documentary theatre works, their sources and their creators from cited reviews and archives.
- Distinguish verbatim source material from scenes written or arranged by the company.
Moral aspects Filled
- Real people's testimony is used on stage; consent, accuracy and dignity are at stake.
- Selection and arrangement shape public memory of contested events.
Who is affected
- People whose words are used
- Victims and their families
- Audiences
Owners Filled
Steward
The company or author who stages it; sources keep rights in their own words.
Links to other meta-models Filled
parent
- Q4164344 - registry parent class
What else AI and robots need to interact with it Filled
Identity and identifiers required Filled
- Vercy registry: vr.tr.documentary-theatre
- Wikidata: Q634138 (https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q634138)
Direct properties not applicable Not applicable
- Documentary claim: Production's stated claim, such as testimony-based account, archival reconstruction, inquiry or contested interpretation; multiple values permitted
- Source-to-performance traceability: Traceable, partially traceable, untraceable or unassessed, recorded per passage or sequence
- Source basis: Interviews, official records, correspondence, recordings, journalism, personal archives, other identified material; multiple values permitted
- Transformation method: Quotation, omission, rearrangement, translation, paraphrase, reconstruction, composite construction or invention; recorded per segment
- Speaker-performer relationship: Source speaker linked to self-performance, another performer, a recording, a composite role or an undisclosed role
- Documentary disclosure: Explicit before performance, explicit during performance, available in accompanying material, absent or unknown; recorded by disclosure topic
- Permission and participation conditions: Documented, conditional, disputed, absent or unknown, with the permitted uses and affected parties identified
- Documentary review status: Unreviewed, checked against sources, challenged, revised or unresolved; recorded per claim and production version
Plane ACT: no invented physical properties.
Recognition optional Filled
- Performances often show projected documents, recordings or photographs alongside actors.
- Programmes credit interviews, transcripts or archives as sources.
- Actors may speak directly to the audience as identified real people.
Capabilities and actions required Filled
- Map performed passages to documentary sources and identify missing or disputed links.
- Compare source material with a script or performance to expose consequential editing and reconstruction.
- Assess whether audience-facing descriptions match the work's actual documentary methods.
- Identify segments requiring attribution checks, participant consultation or permission review before a specified use.
- Trace how casting, delivery and staging alter the apparent authority or meaning of testimony.
- Prepare a version-specific correction or revision while preserving the history of the documentary claim.
Hazards and failure modes required Filled
- Edited testimony can distort what people said.
- Exposure of participants can lead to harassment or legal claims.
Standards and interfaces required Filled
- The Berne Convention for the Protection of Literary and Artistic Works, administered by the World Intellectual Property Organization, provides an international copyright framework relevant to protected texts and dramatic works used in productions.
Context of use required Filled
- Documentary theatre is encountered in theatres, festivals, schools and community settings where performances examine actual people, events or social conditions.
- Practitioners use interviews, testimony, archives and other records to support public discussion, historical interpretation and accounts of lived experience.
Sources Filled
- Wikidata item Q634138: documentary theatre - identity and sense of the item
- Wikipedia: Documentary theatre - general description of the item
Open questions
- Which scholarly and practitioner definitions should anchor the registry definition, particularly where documentary theatre overlaps with verbatim theatre, testimony theatre and historical reconstruction?
- How should a work be classified when it presents a documentary claim but deliberately obscures, fictionalises or destabilises its apparent sources?
- What traceability can reasonably be required when testimony must remain confidential or an originating archive is inaccessible?
- How should competing accounts from participants, source speakers and creators be represented when they disagree about the meaning or fairness of a performance?
- Which characteristics belong to the enduring work, and which must be reassessed for every staging, tour, translation or recording?
Machine files
Provenance
thing registry research (pass 2) · unreviewed
Built from: models/things/publications/thing-q634138/spec.json