The Pull of Opposing Forces: An Inquiry Into the Ethical Dimensions of an Emergent Research-Based Theatre Project

Abstract

In this article, the author conducts a retrospective interrogation of the ethical issues embedded in the development (over a 5-year period) of a one-woman play, Goldilocks’ s Testimony, about the accumulation over time of the organizational processes and practices that marginalize women in workplaces. She describes the play’s developmental trajectory, from conception through to the final performance to date as a serendipitous one. In the article, she explores many of the ethical issues that emerged over the course of this trajectory, some of which became apparent only in hindsight. In her exploration, she attends explicitly to the many opposing forces she negotiated over the lifetime of the project.