Navigating New Approaches for Grassroot Community Theatre in a (Post-)Covid World

Kerrie Reading

doi:10.14198/raei.2021.35.08

Authors

Kerrie Reading Cardiff Metropolitan University, United Kingdom https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4535-9960

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.14198/raei.2021.35.08

Keywords:

Community theatre, grassroot, collectivity, locality

Abstract

The cultural revolution of 1968 paved the way for many artists to reconsider how and where theatre was made. Community theatre gained currency and one company who became prominent during this cultural shift was Welfare State, later Welfare State International. They were one of the theatre companies who focused not only on a community theatre aesthetic but a grassroot one. I examine the radicality of community theatre and consider the efficacy of the historical approaches to engaging with communities in a (Post-)Covid world. I acknowledge and explore the shifting understanding of communities and assert that a deeper engagement is needed to foster collectivity (Tannahill 2016; Fişek 2019; Weston 2020; Bartley 2021). To reconsider the role that theatre may play in the future, I focus on a grassroot approach to community-led work and posit that location will be a key component to how theatre is made as we emerge from a pandemic.

References

BARTLEY, Sarah. 2021. “UK People’s Theatres: performing civic functions in a time of austerity.” Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance 26(1): 171-186. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2020.1853516

BLEEKER, Maaike, Adrian Kear, Joe Kelleher and Heike Roms, eds. 2019. Thinking Through Theatre and Performance. London: Bloomsbury.

CONROY, Colette. 2019. “How can the theatre be fully accessible?” In Bleeker, Kear, Kelleher and Roms 2019.

CRAIG, Sandy, ed. 1980. Dreams and Deconstructions: Alternative Theatre in Britain. Ambergate: Amber Lane Press.

COULT, Tony and Baz Kershaw. 1983. Engineers of the Imagination: The Welfare State Handbook. London: Methuen.

FIŞEK, Emine. 2019. Theatre and Community. Palgrave Macmillan, UK.

FOX, John. 2002. Eyes on Stalks. London: Methuen.

GARDNER, Lyn. 2020. “Is it time to think differently about theatre buildings?” The Stage. Available at: https://www.thestage.co.uk/opinion/theatre-buildings-will-survive-but-we-have-to-use-space-differently [accessed 15 February 2021]

GOOCH, Steve. 1984. All Together Now: An Alternative View of Theatre and The Community. London: Methuen.

KERSHAW, Baz. 1992. The Politics of Performance: Radical Theatre as Cultural Intervention. London: Routledge.

MURDOCH, Graham. 1980. “Radical drama, radical theatre.” Media Culture & Society 2 (2):151-168. https://doi.org/10.1177/016344378000200204

M.K. 1983 “Grassroots Theatre: An Introduction." The Drama Review: TDR, Summer, Vol. 27, No. 2, p. 2

TANNAHILL, Jordan. 2016. “Why Live?: A Question for 21st Century Theatre.” World Literature Today 90 (1): 36-39. https://doi.org/10.7588/worllitetoda.90.1.0036

WESTON, Sarah. 2020. “Being part of something much bigger than self': the community play as a model of implicit and explicit political theatre practice.” Research in Drama Education: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance 25 (2):161-177. https://doi.org/10.1080/13569783.2019.1692653

WHITE, Rhiannon. 2020. “The future of theatre is here.” Institute of Welsh Affairs. Available at https://www.iwa.wales/agenda/2020/07/the-future-of-theatre-is-here/ [accessed 29 January 2021].

WAINWRIGHT, Oliver. 2020. “What's the future of theatre? A Scottish seaside town may have all the answers.” Available at https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/jul/14/covid-future-theatre-scottish-seaside-town-answers-dunoon [accessed 14 January 2021].

Websites consulted

www.commonwealththeatre.co.uk [accessed 18th March and 30th May 2021]

https://www.frozenlighttheatre.com [accessed 30th June 2021]

https://www.pentabus.co.uk [accessed 30th June 2021]

www.womenandtheatre.co.uk [accessed 18th March and 30th May 2021]