Rather then reciting memorised lines, in a headphone-verbatim show, actors wear headphones and speak along to a sequence of carefully edited audio interviews word-for-word. By confining the actors to the discipline of accompanying a recording with absolute precision (including every inflection, cough, stumble, breath and overlap), a curious, hyper-real performance style is established. While the actors often adopt characters with an accent/background/age/gender obviously not their own, the discipline of this technique prevents parody or interpretation. It also allows the many quirks and imperfections of human speech to be acknowledged with integrity. As a theatre-maker, Oades operates from the principle there is as much information embedded in the way someone speaks as what they are saying. By meticulously preserving the vocal print of real-life interview recordings in performance, her cast sets out to mine the rich nuances of conversational speech like musicians following a score.
“I’m happy about (the show). Before I die I like to give people something. My family couldn’t believe it. They didn’t believe my stories were so popular ...” - Hildegard Zywko, 84yr old interviewee, Fast Cars & Tractor Engines
Roslyn's experimentations with headphone-verbatim performance began in 2001 at the London Actors Centre. She gratefully acknowledges the early mentorship of UK director Mark Wing-Davey, as well as the generous contribution of Australian collaborators: Michael Mohammed Ahmad, Katia Molino, Tim Carroll, Bob Scott, Neil Simpson, Clare Britton, Alicia Talbot & Lee Wilson - all of whom have made a profound contribution to her pioneering body of work in this field.