Harnessing sociolinguistic variation when writing documentary theatre

This article interrogates sociolinguistic variation as a framing concept for making and writing documentary theatre that harnesses the subject’s multiplicities. I explore a dramaturgy that epistemologically aligns with the individual/subject, focusing on the mechanics for aiding embodied and linguistic resources towards performativity in the workshop programme and processes for capturing these in the playwriting process. I suggest that sociolinguistic variation may be emphasized in moments of performativity, widening current perspectives of embodiment. In focus is the project and play Courage Songs (2023–2024), written by the ensemble and me in Birmingham, the United Kingdom.