The Ecologies of Amateur Theatre - Softcover

Nicholson, Helen; Holdsworth, Nadine; Milling, Jane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1137508094 ISBN 13: 9781137508096

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018

Synopsis

This book is the first major study of amateur theatre, offering new perspectives on its place in the cultural and social life of communities. Historically informed, it traces how amateur theatre has impacted national repertoires, contributed to diverse creative economies, and responded to changing patterns of labour. Based on extensive archival and ethnographic research, it traces the importance of amateur theatre to crafting places and the ways in which it sustains the creativity of amateur theatre over a lifetime. It asks: how does amateur theatre-making contribute to the twenty-first century amateur turn?

About this title

About the Author

Helen Nicholson is Professor of Theatre and Performance at Royal Holloway, University of London, UK. Her books include Applied Drama: The Gift of Theatre (2005/2014), Theatre, Education and Performance (2011), and co-edited collections Performance and Participation (2017) and Critical Perspectives on Applied Theatre (2016). With Nadine Holdsworth and Jane Milling as Co-Investigators, she was Principal Investigator on two research projects on amateur theatre, funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council. 
Nadine Holdsworth is Professor of Theatre and Performance Studies at the University of Warwick, UK. She has written Joan Littlewood’s Theatre (2011), Theatre & Nation (2010) and Joan Littlewood (2006), edited Theatre and National Identity (2014), and co-edited a special issue of Contemporary Theatre Review on amateur theatre (2017). 
Jane Milling is Associate Professor of Drama at the University of Exeter, UK. She has co-authored Devising Performance (2005/2015), Modern British Playwrighting: the 1980s (2012), and co-edited The Cambridge History of British Theatre: Volume 1 (2004) and Extraordinary Actors (2004).

Review

“At last! A detailed, profound study which elucidates amateur theatre's unrecognised status in the UK by approaching it hands-on. This readable book analyses the contribution made by Amateur Theatre to the contemporary cultural economy and sheds a spotlight on its significance as a creative practice. It describes us as cultural omnivores, devouring every scrap of theatrical possibility and keeping the flame of new writing burning quietly until it enters, or re-enters the national repertoire. Officialdom is urged to pay attention to this excellent book, which shows how Amateur Theatre is a force for good.” (Jo Matthews, The Questors, Ealing and The Little Theatre Guild)

“This book shines a much-needed spotlight on the world of amateur theatre. It demonstrates that the art of theatre making belongs to everyone, and reminds us amateur theatre is where many of us fell in love with making and watching theatre in the first place. In learning about the UK's estimated one million amateur theatre makers, you quickly learn that theatre is much more than a profession or an industry. You find theatre making answers a very human need to gather together, to tell stories, to pretend, to show off, to act out what it means to be human beings. And the desire to perform unpaid, against the odds, often on limited resources, while juggling busy lives, demonstrates the power of a theatre as an art form that speaks to us whoever we are.” (Ian Wainwright, Producer, Royal Shakespeare Company Open Stages)

 

About this edition

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Publication date: 2018
• ISBN 10: 1137508094
• ISBN 13: 9781137508096
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 355