‘Acting with Facts’: Actors performing the real in British theatre and television since 1990. A preliminary report on a new research project

Abstract

This article outlines a funded UK research project, ‘Acting with Facts’, about to begin an investigation of the work of the actor in British stage and television docudrama. The preliminary position of the project is defined in terms of the current centrality of documentary modes in cultural production and the relative lack of research into the contribution of the actor to the docudrama. The reasons for an emphasis on British stage and television practices are discussed. The project is located in terms of current scholarship on docudrama, with special reference to the place of this mode within theories of the documentary. The usefulness of Benjamin's notion of ‘porosity’ (in contradistinction to the idea of ‘blurred boundaries’) is proposed. An initial account of the questions to be used by researchers is set out, along with ultimate objectives.