Whose Story Is It Anyway?: Reflections on Authorship and Ownership in Devised Theatre-Making and Ethnodrama with Young People

Abstract

A paradigm shift to research ‘with’ young people as opposed to ‘on’ young people has led to focus being placed on young people’s voices in matters concerning them as they are viewed as the experts on their own lives. This article reflects on authorship and ownership of work created collaboratively with young people and on the devised theatre-making process which lead to the creation of ethnodrama, a script of dramatised narratives. The applied theatre practitioner and researcher devising work and creating ethnodramas with young people (and indeed other community groups) faces additional challenges compared to the traditional playwright; they do not just have to entertain but also convey narratives from and about people. This article argues that while aesthetic judgement can be exercised to some degree in the process of scripting the narratives, there are competing tensions involving power dynamics and ethical considerations that must be carefully negotiated and renegotiated through a collaborative process of (re)creation, (re)presentation and (re)telling of the young people’s narratives. The article gives examples of practice which supports the idea when making work with young people it is this collaborative process that is key to the notion of authorship and ownership. It concludes that through this process, the aspiration is that authorship is shared between everyone involved in the process, but that the ownership lies with the young people, from whom the narratives originate.