Doing notes

Abstract

This study explores the use of inscribed objects developed during theatre rehearsals and used as a resource in the structuring of one particular diagnostic activity in the theatre, known to practitioners as ‘doing notes’. This activity denotes diagnostic discussions in theatre rehearsals where members gather to reflect on their staging, and come to an agreement on future courses of action. Observing how directors use annotated play-scripts and notepads as tools for coordinating the performers’ engagement in the analysis and discussions of the staged action, the study asks what role these inscribed objects have as resources for coordinating the interaction during these activities. The study uses a longitudinal data set of video-recorded theatre rehearsals, here concerning two theatre companies as they prepare to stage naturalistic dramas, both working from play-scripts. The analysis explores how members of the ensemble use the artefacts to identify the particular staged sequence and action that is being topicalized and adopt the relevant participation framework for attending to the feedback item; how the artefacts are used in occasioning transitions between different items of feedback; and how the director also uses the objects as a means to mitigate for the socially sensitive act of critiquing colleagues’ performance in a public arena. The findings demonstrate how members orient to such locally produced inscribed objects as relevant resources for the carrying out of diagnostic activities at the heart of the collaborative theatre project.