This series of three volumes provides a groundbreaking study of the work of many of the most innovative and important British theatre companies from 1965 to the present. Each volume provides a survey of the political and cultural context; an extensive survey of the variety of theatre companies from the period, and detailed case studies of six of the major companies drawing on the Arts Council Archives to trace the impact of funding on the work produced. 1965–1979, covers the period often accepted as the 'golden age' of British Fringe companies, looking at the birth of companies concerned with touring their work to an ever-expanding circuit of 'alternative' performance venues. Leading academics provide case studies of six of the most important companies, including: * CAST, by Bill McDonnell (University of Sheffield, UK) * The People Show, by Grant Tyler Peterson (Brunel University London, UK) * Portable Theatre, by Chris Megson (Royal Holloway, University of London, UK) * Pip Simmons Theatre Group, by Kate Dorney (The Victoria and Albert Museum, UK) * Welfare State International, by Gillian Whitely (Loughborough University, UK) * 7:84 Theatre Companies, by David Pattie (University of Chester, UK).

This series of three volumes provides a groundbreaking study of the work of many of the most innovative and important British theatre companies from 1965 to 2014. Each volume provides a survey of the political and cultural context, an extensive survey of the variety of theatre companies from the period, and detailed case studies of six of the most important companies. Volume Three, 1995-2014, charts the expansion of the sector in the era of Lottery funding and traces the resistant influences of earlier movements in the emergence of new companies and an independent theatre ecology that seeks to reconfigure the mainstream. Leading academics provide case studies of six of the most important companies, including: * Mind the Gap, by Dave Calvert (University of Huddersfield, UK) * Blast Theory, by Maria Chatzichristodoulou (University of Hull, UK) * Suspect Culture, by Clare Wallace (Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic) * Punchdrunk, by Josephine Machon (Middlesex University, UK) * Kneehigh, by Duška Radosavljevic (University of Kent, UK) * Stans Cafe, by Marissia Fragkou (Canterbury Christ Church University, UK)

British theatre underwent a vast transformation and expansion in the decades after World War II. This Companion explores the historical, political, and social contexts and conditions that not only allowed it to expand but, crucially, shaped it. Resisting a critical tendency to focus on plays alone, the collection expands understanding of British theatre by illuminating contexts such as funding, unionisation, devolution, immigration, and changes to legislation. Divided into four parts, it guides readers through changing attitudes to theatre-making (acting, directing, writing), theatre sectors (West End, subsidised, Fringe), theatre communities (audiences, Black theatre, queer theatre), and theatre's relationship to the state (government, infrastructure, nationhood). Supplemented by a valuable Chronology and Guide to Further Reading, it presents up-to-date approaches informed by critical race theory, queer studies, audience studies, and archival research to demonstrate important new ways of conceptualising post-war British theatre's history, practices and potential futures.

This series of three volumes provides a groundbreaking study of the work of many of the most innovative and important British theatre companies from 1965 to the present. Each volume provides a survey of the political and cultural context, an extensive survey of the variety of theatre companies from the period, and detailed case studies of six of the major companies. Volume Two, 1980–1994, covers the period when cuts under Margaret Thatcher's Tory government changed the landscape for British theatre. Yet it also saw an expansion of companies that made feminism and gender central to their work, and the establishment of new black and Asian companies. Leading academics provide case studies of six of the most important companies, including: * Monstrous Regiment, by Kate Dorney (The Victoria & Albert Museum) *Forced Entertainment, by Sarah Gorman (University of Roehampton, London, UK) * Gay Sweatshop, by Sara Freeman (University of Puget Sound, USA) * Joint Stock, by Jaqueline Bolton (University of Lincoln, UK) * Theatre de Complicite, by Michael Fry * Talawa, by Kene Igweonu (Canterbury Christ Church University, UK)

A companion to American Theatre Ensembles Volume 1, this volume charts the development and achievements of theatre companies working after 1995, bringing together the diffuse generation of ensembles working within a context of media saturation and epistemological and social fragmentation. Ensembles examined include Rude Mechs, The Builders Association, Pig Iron, Radiohole, The Civilians and 600 Highwaymen. Introductory chapters provide a sweeping overview of ensemble-based creation within the general historical and cultural contexts of the period, followed by a detailed study of the evolution of ensemble-based work. Contributors examine matters such as influence, funding, production and legacies, as well as the forms of collective devising and creation, while presenting close readings of the companies' most prominent works. The volume features detailed case studies of the 6 companies from the period and cover: * A history of development and methods * Key productions and projects * Critical reception * A chronology of significant productions US ensemble companies since 1995 have revolutionized the form and content of contemporary performance, influencing experimental as well as mainstream practice. This volume provides the first encompassing study of this vital development in contemporary American theatre by mapping its evolution and key developments.

In the wake of new far-right populisms, the fragmentation of progressive global narratives and the dismantling of economic globalization, there are signs that neoliberalism is beginning to enter its death throes. Using 1968 as one of the inaugural moments of neoliberalism, this interdisciplinary collection is a critical and comparative resource that reexamines the significance and legacy of the global 1968 uprisings from today’s vantage point. For scholars and students alike, this interdisciplinary collection will help readers understand why the global uprisings of 1968 continue to resonate and what it means for theory and culture today.

What is the relationship between touring and other kinds of theatre work? How should theatre circulate, and how are we to understand this circulation? What impact do tour routes have beyond the dissemination of what is on stage? Whose travel stories are told within the theatre, and by whom? This concise study argues that we should pay more attention to how, why and where theatre travels. Moving away from prevailing metaphors of 'strolling players' and 'the circuit', this volume examines in more detail what theatre is doing when it tours, and why it matters. Enlivened with a wide range of examples – from Ancient Rome to internet livestreams, solo tours to national theatres, and Shakespeare to post-apocalyptic fiction – Theatre & Travel distinguishes between different versions of theatre touring to uncover both the possibilities and the inequalities that it entails. Proposing that travel is central to our understanding of theatre, the book asks what changes might need to happen to enable theatre to travel better in the world.

This book investigates contemporary British and Irish performances that stage traumatic narratives, histories, acts and encounters. It includes a range of case studies that consider the performative, cultural and political contexts for the staging and reception of sexual violence, terminal illness, environmental damage, institutionalisation and asylum. In particular, it focuses on 'bodies in shadow' in twenty-first century performance: those who are largely written out of or marginalised in dominant twentieth-century patriarchal canons of theatre and history. This volume speaks to students, scholars and artists working within contemporary theatre and performance, Irish and British studies, memory and trauma studies, feminisms, performance studies, affect and reception studies, as well as the medical humanities.

Theatre Studios explores the history of the studio model in England, first established by Konstantin Stanislavsky, Jacques Copeau and others in the early twentieth century, and later developed in the UK primarily by Michel Saint-Denis, George Devine, Michael Chekhov and Joan Littlewood, whose studios are the focus of this study. Cornford offers in-depth accounts of the radical, collective work of these leading theatre companies of the mid-twentieth century, considering the models of ensemble theatre-making that they developed and their remnants in the newly publicly-funded UK theatre establishment of the 1960s. In the process, this book develops an approach to understanding the politics of artistic practices rooted in the work of John Dewey, Antonio Gramsci and the standpoint feminists. It concludes by considering the legacy of the studio movement for twenty-first-century theatre, partly by tracking its echoes in the work of Secret Theatre at the Lyric, Hammersmith (2013–2015). Students and makers of theatre alike will find in this book a provocative and illuminating analysis of the politics of performance-making and a history of the theatre as a site for developing counterhegemonic, radically democratic, anti-individualist forms of cultural production.

Based on the words and experiences of the people involved, this book tells the story of the community arts movement in the UK, and, through a series of essays, assesses its influence on present day participatory arts practices. Part I offers the first comprehensive account of the movement, its history, rationale and modes of working in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales; Part II brings the work up to the present, through a scholarly assessment of its influence on contemporary practice that considers the role of technologies and networks, training, funding, commissioning and curating socially engaged art today. The community arts movement was a well-known but little understood and largely undocumented creative revolution that began as part of the counter-cultural scene in the late 1960s. A wide range of art forms were developed, including large processions with floats and giant puppets, shadow puppet shows, murals and public art, events on adventure playgrounds and play schemes, outdoor events and fireshows. By the middle of the 1980s community arts had changed and diversified to the point where its fragmentation meant that it could no longer be seen as a coherent movement. Interviews with the early pioneers provide a unique insight into the arts practices of the time. Culture, Democracy and the Right to Make Art is not simply a history because the legacy and influence of the community arts movement can be seen in a huge range of diverse locations today. Anyone who has ever encountered a community festival or educational project in a gallery or museum or visited a local arts centre could be said to be part of the on-going story of the community arts. This book is open access and available on www.bloomsburycollections.com . It is funded by the University of Manchester.