The Ecologies of Amateur Theatre

345 Pages·2018·0.36 MB·English

by  Helen Nicholson

ECOLOGIES
THE
AMATEUR THEATRE
OF
Helen Nicholson, Nadine Holdsworth & Jane Milling
The Ecologies of Amateur Theatre
Helen Nicholson • Nadine Holdsworth
Jane Milling
The Ecologies of
Amateur Theatre
Helen Nicholson Nadine Holdsworth
Department of Drama, Theatre and School of Theatre and Performance
Dance Studies
Royal Holloway, University of London University of Warwick
Egham, UK Coventry, UK
Jane Milling
Department of Drama
University of Exeter
Exeter, UK
ISBN 978-1-137-50809-6 ISBN 978-1-137-50810-2 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50810-2
Library of Congress Control Number: 2018955707
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
The author(s) has/have asserted their right(s) to be identified as the author(s) of this work
in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the pub-
lisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the
material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The
publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institu-
tional affiliations.
Cover illustration: Kevin Mitchell in Collingwood RSC’s Puss in Boots photo: Pam Johns
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Limited
The registered company address is: The Campus, 4 Crinan Street, London, N1 9XW, United
Kingdom
A
cknowledgements
This book has been, in many ways, a labour of love and we are indebted to
numerous people who took time to share their insights and experience
with us. Firstly, we would like to thank all the amateur theatre-makers who
generously gave their time to talk to us, show us their theatres, open their
archives and invited us to play readings, rehearsals and committee meet-
ings, and who explained the challenges of set-building, lighting, prop and
costume-making. We have felt warmly welcomed by many people in dif-
ferent amateur theatre companies, and their enthusiasm, dedication and
creativity are recognised and acknowledged in the pages of this book.
We would particularly like to acknowledge the contribution to our
research made by the national and international organisations whose work
supports amateur theatre. Members of Voluntary Arts, The Little Theatre
Guild, The Guild of Drama Adjudicators, the National Operatic and
Dramatic Association, The All-England Festival and IATA/AITA offered
wise advice and helpful encouragement.
We have appreciated the generosity of spirit shown by many people who
work in the professional theatre, particularly The Royal Shakespeare Company,
who spared time to be interviewed and shared their experiences of working
with the amateur theatre sector. Our academic colleagues in theatre and per-
formance studies and across the Arts and Humanities Research Council’s
Connected Communities Scheme have provided intellectual challenges as we
developed our work, and we know the book is richer for their contributions.
And finally, we would like to acknowledge the immense contribution
made to the research by Molly Flynn and Erin Walcon who, at different
times, served as postdoctoral researchers on the two funded projects that
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
informed this book. Cara Gray and Sarah Penny were inspiring doctoral
researchers on the project, and we thank them for their enthusiasm, imagi-
nation and hard work.
This research was generously funded by two grants from the Arts and
Humanities Research Council (AHRC): Amateur Dramatics: Crafting
Communities in Time and Space REF: AH/K001922/1: For Love or
Money? Collaboration between Professional and amateur theatre, REF:
AH/N001567/1.
The AHRC recognises that the Arts and Humanities investigate the
values and beliefs which underpin both who we are as individuals and how
we undertake our responsibilities to our society and to humanity globally.
We hope that this book contributes to that ambition.
c
ontents
1 E cologies of Amateur Theatre 1
2 Valuing Amateur Theatre 23
3 Amateur Repertoires 67
4 A mateur Theatre, Place and Place-Making 109
5 M aking Time for Amateur Theatre: Work, Labour and Free
Time 157
6 Making Amateur Theatre 191
7 A mateur Theatre: Heritage and Invented Traditions 237
8 T heatre and the Amateur Turn: Future Ecologies 279
References 307
Index 323
vii
l f
ist of igures
Fig. 2.1 Martin Collins, archivist for The People’s Theatre, Newcastle-
Upon-T yne, 2016. (Photographer: Jane Milling) 35
Fig. 2.2 Bolton Little Theatre: performances from the archive (funded
by the Heritage Lottery Fund). (Photographer: Jane Milling) 49
Fig. 3.1 Amateur Theatre Handbooks. (Photographer: Jane Milling) 93
Fig. 4.1 Postcard of The Garden City Pantomime, 1910. (Garden City
Collection) 129
Fig. 4.2 Jordan Baker and Matt Smith in Harefield Amateur Dramatics
Society’s production of Journey’s End, November 2015. (By
kind permission of the photographer, Jan Scurr) 144
Fig. 5.1 BACCES cast performing the ‘uniform number’ in Sleeping
Beauty, Watford Palace Theatre, January 2016. (By kind
permission of photographer, Amelia Brandao) 183
Fig. 5.2 Collette Lucas in Sleeping Beauty, Watford Palace Theatre 2016.
(By kind permission photographer, Amelia Brandao) 185
Fig. 6.1 Robin Sheppard in Collingwood RSC’s Snow White, 2009. (By
kind permission of photographer, Pam Johns) 196
Figs. 6.2 Box set and staging for The Criterion’s production of
and 6.3 Communicating Doors, 2017. (Photographer: Nadine
Holdsworth) 210
Fig. 6.4 Marlyn Mabukela, Poppy Dhansingani and Ahmed Hamed in
Mad Cow’s production of Hairspray, 2015. (By kind
permission of photographer, Guy Clarke) 228
Fig. 7.1 Costume for the Admirals’ Players Little Panto on the Prairie
hanging in Fisher Hall, HMS Excellent, Whale Island.
(Photographer: Nadine Holdsworth) 262
ix
x LIST OF FIGURES
Fig. 8.1 Richard Brown and Liz Barka in The Tempest directed by John
Shippey. Shakespeare at The George, Huntingdon, 2016. (By
kind permission of photographer, Antonia Brown) 294
CHAPTER 1
Ecologies of Amateur Theatre
July 2017. There is soft rain falling on an open-air production of Twelfth
Night in the atmospheric gardens of Bowes Museum in Barnard Castle, in
northeast England. The audience has come dressed for the weather, and hot
pies will be served in the interval. This production of Twelfth Night, directed
by Jill Cole, has a Victorian Steampunk theme, and the pre-show entertain-
ment, aided by enthusiasts from the Teeside Steampunk Society, captures its
playful mood. The play will begin in less than ten minutes, and anticipation
is building. The company, The Castle Players, has a strong reputation for
inventive and entertaining performances, which is strengthened by their col-
laboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) as part of the lat-
ter’s Open Stages Programme in which amateurs and professionals work
together. Audiences for amateur companies are often sociable, even to peo-
ple they have never met before, and I am quickly engaged in conversation by
the couple sitting next to me. We look at the programme together and they
tell me about people in the cast—one is a psychologist who works in the
prison and another is a gardener. And Sir Andrew Aguecheek, they say,
works in the sandwich shop. (Helen’s Research Diary, July 2017)
October 2014. People of all ages are laughing and greeting each other
warmly as they congregate in a large multi-purpose venue on HMS
Collingwood, a naval base in the south of England, to begin the first of their
twice-weekly rehearsals for Dick Whittington. In mid-October people are
already struggling to get tickets for the five performances that will run 4–7th
December. This is a popular group with a local reputation for putting on a
© The Author(s) 2018 1
H. Nicholson et al., The Ecologies of Amateur Theatre,
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-50810-2_1