'A Box of Memories' - Transforming Perspectives of Dementia Through Documentary Music Theatre

Abstract

This artistic research study proposes documentary music theatre as an emerging hybridised theatrical form. It posits that documentary music theatre fosters transformative experiences for audiences through enhanced emotional resonance. To evaluate the efficacy of this novel sub-genre of music theatre, this doctoral study consists of a creative work and supporting dissertation. The creative work is a documentary musical called A Box of Memories, a one-act, three-hander musical that endeavours to change audience perspectives on dementia.

This study implemented three multimodal stages - theory, practice, and evaluation - to test and validate the proficiency of documentary music theatre as a medium for transformative experience. Theory included a critical literature review of documentary theatre and music theatre literature. The literature was synthesised, and a proposed definition of documentary music theatre was presented. Practice constituted all the creative components involved in conceptualising, writing, developing, and performing the musical. The creative process was documented through an artistic autoethnographic account. The evaluation consisted of a post-show perceptual survey.

The audience was invited to participate in the survey after viewing the show in Sydney. The responses were analysed using descriptive statistics and thematic analysis. The findings indicated that audience participants had a transformative experience after viewing A Box of Memories. The responses demonstrated high levels of emotional resonance, leading to positive perspective shifts towards people impacted by dementia, increased empathy, and greater dementia awareness. This verified the transformative impact of documentary music theatre, validating the genre as a novel addition to the music theatre canon. The dissertation concludes by offering a documentary music theatre framework as a guide for future practitioners to pursue documentary music theatre.