Reflecting on Amateur Theatre Research
About our research.. and about us Two research projects Amateur dramatics: Crafting Communities in Time and Space (2013-2017) ď ľ
For Love or Money? Collaboration between Amateur and Professional theatre (2016) ď ľ
Helen Nicholson Jane Milling Nadine Holdsworth Cara Gray Sarah Penny Erin Walcon (2013-2015) Molly Flynn (2016)
How does amateur theatre contribute to sustaining, challenging and revitalising communities? What is the social and cultural significance of amateur theatre as a craft, as a creative practice, as entertainment and as heritage?
Research questions: Crafting Communities in Time and Space
How does the practice of amateur theatre illuminate questions of time (work-time, spare-time, leisure-time) and temporality?
Case Studies and Research sites
Amateur theatre in the Royal Navy
Nadine Holdsworth and Sarah Penny
Amateur theatre in the garden city movement, in new towns, suburbia
Helen Nicholson and Cara Gray
Amateur theatre in villages and at the seaside
Jane Milling and Erin Walcon
In cities (Acting Out, Birmingham and the Philippine Theatre UK)
In festivals
In workplaces
In our local communities
How are collaborations between professional and amateur theatres redefining the concept of the 'amateur' in twenty-first century cultural practice, particularly in relation to the professional artist?
How do amateur theatre companies use professional expertise to sustain successful business models and how, reciprocally, do amateur theatre companies contribute to the commercial viability of professional theatres?
What do professional theatre-makers and professional theatre companies learn from collaborating with amateurs, both creatively and economically?
What further opportunities are there for cross-sector partnership?
Research Questions: Love or Money?
Research Partner: The Royal Shakespeare Company Open Stages Programme Open Stages This research asks how professional expertise and Researcher: Molly Flynn en Stages amateur knowledge are differentiated, and what happens when amateur and professional theatremakers work together. What creative methods and rehearsal strategies do professional theatre-makers use and advise when working in amateur settings? How far, why, and in what ways the skills and crafts learnt from professional theatre-makers are applied, adapted, translated or ignored by amateurs?
Do professional theatre-makers benefit from working with amateurs?
Key themes: Our analysis
Histories and heritage Creativity and space Craft, creativity and material practices Changing repertoires The role of organisations, social movement Significance of place-making Communities of care Changing roles of the amateur/ professional Theatre making and Sociability
Rituals and tradition Apprenticeships, craft and skill Relationship to location/ demographic Effect of employment practices Affective places of performance Importance of audiences The cultural value of amateur theatre And much more…
And about today…
SESSION ONE: RESEARCHING THE PAST
SESSION TWO: AMATEUR THEATRE, CRAFT AND COMMUNITIES
SESSION THREE: THE ECOLOGIES OF AMATEUR THEATRE
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