Co-developing participatory dramabased methods to gather diverse community voices on water relationships in the riverside town of Tewkesbury, UK

Berridge, Sarah; McEwen, Lindsey; Chun, Kwok

Abstract

Flood-prone places and people often face conflicting interests that hinder their ability to cope with, and adapt to, wider water security issues. To enhance capacities of these places and people, interdisciplinary researchers (UWE, Bristol) and Acta Community Theatre are collaborating in pilot research working with community groups and cultural organisations in Tewkesbury, River Severn, UK. The project is capturing different water stories from diverse place-based communities, including more marginalised groups. This research has been inspired by collaborative dialogue with University of Saskatchewan, Canada, who previously delivered a performance theatre process with indigenous communities sharing their local water knowledge.
In Tewkesbury, a drama script, co-developed with local place-based communities, will explore ways of adapting to climate change, nesting personal, community and town levels. It will articulate conflicts and challenges at the intersection of social and spatial inequalities.
The first stage involves gathering authentic voices from marginalised groups on local water and climate-based issues. Then, researchers draw on these viewpoints to co-design a progression of community workshops in the local theatre that co-explore creative and deep
solutions to communicating issues around water security and climate adaptation in Tewkesbury. The final stage involves working with local drama groups in a 'rehearsed reading' of the script - in co-developing a ‘bespoke’ play for Tewkesbury. The pilot project's goal is to create an arts-based framework for national/international catchment-scale,
collaborative ‘conflict resolution’ initiatives for water security research in climate change adaptation.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: RGS-IBG Annual International Conference
• Start Date: Sep 1, 2023
• Acceptance Date: Jun 1, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Sep 1, 2023
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Mar 22, 2024
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/11704072