In-Compass: An Exploration into Devising Theatre Across Multiple Cultural Identities

Abstract

Is a group-devised approach to theatre-making better suited to creating theatre when working across multiple different cultures? When working with multiple individuals of different cultural backgrounds, it is important to consider the aspects of cross-cultural exchange, and whose methodology will dominate or structure the meeting place between individuals. Balances of power are a key interest of cross-cultural theatre scholarship in the way that it considers varying collaborative virtues of the work of cross-cultural artists. As devising promotes itself as a methodology that has no pre-existing structures, the temptation is to opt for no cultural framework at this stage to encourage a variety of ways in which each contributing culture can add to the project. Through a case study, a practice-led research project, I sought to discover first-hand the intricacies and complexities of creating theatre with multiple cultural identities. The resulting product was titled In-Compass: A Play About NAvigaTION and was performed in April 2010 in Allen Hall Theatre at the University of Otago.