Beyond ethnodrama: exploring nursing history and identity through scriptwriting as research

The creation of scripts and performances from, as, and for sharing research has gained increasing credibility in the overlapping realms of applied theatre, performance studies, drama education and arts-based research. The resulting scripts can be used to inform learning processes, share data with research participants and be shaped into performative works for diverse audiences. While much of this work draws upon and experiments with ethnographic methodologies and traditions, the scope for exploring scriptwriting as research is diversifying. This article shares insights emerging from the development of script and a research process which draws on concerns arising from anthropology/ethnology, historiography and drama to develop a script which investigated the principles and practices of nurses today, and those of nurses 100 years ago during World War 1. Such processes which combine historical research, participatory processes and scriptwriting as a creative and research practice can be applied within drama classrooms and other community and professional contexts.