Introduction

This introduction establishes a critical framework for exploring vulnerability within addiction recovery contexts. Drawing on Gilson’s (2014) ethics of vulnerability and O’Grady’s (2017) concept of critical vulnerability in performance making, it outlines the research trajectory and case studies that investigate how socially engaged performance creates spaces where vulnerability operates, simultaneously, as an ethical resource and a creative method. It brings together two decades of research, practice, and advocacy, offering a theoretical framework for understanding the complex intersections between socially engaged performance, vulnerability, and addiction recovery.