Show Me the Workings: playwriting, data, ethics and artistry in research-based theatre

The 2^nd Research-based Theatre Symposium, hosted by the Research-based Theatre Lab at the Faculty of Education, University of Melbourne, ran February 12-15, 2024. On 13 February, a panel session chaired by Dr Chris Summers was held between Dr Peta Murray, Dr Linden Wilkinson and Dr Zoe Hogan. The panel was organised around themes of playwriting, data and ethics and their relationship (and the panellists’) to research-based theatre. Each of the panellists are playwrights inside, and outside, of academia and explored the tensions between artistry and scholarship.Arts-based researchers have long used transcripts to deepen understanding of, and debate around, ethics and artistry (see Denzin & Giardia, 2016; Leavy, 2024; Pelias, 2018). This article is a transcript of that panel session, with the panellist’s own contributions edited for clarity (or to provide references to quoted works) by themselves. Audience questions have been deidentified and generalised, and thematic subheadings inserted to allow for flow.