Figurations of working-class subjects in UK theatre practice and policy.

When the UK theatre industry begins to rebuild activity in the wake of COVID19, it will be critical that it furthers recent moves by policy makers and artists to challenge socio-economic inequality, now exacerbated in every part of society by the pandemic. This research, development and engagement fellowship will respond to a critical question in support of such a project: How might a re-orientation of class discourse within theatre scholarship inform future artistic practice and policy in the industry's efforts to challenge class discrimination in theatre and wider society?

To address this question the fellowship will engage in a political analysis of the ways in which a broadly-conceived 'working-class subject' currently manifests in UK theatre practice, policy and scholarship. Existing research suggests that welcome new industry initiatives to widen working-class participation in the arts, and improve working-class representation within the theatre industry, will not be sufficient on their own to challenge the inequitable balance of cultural power as it currently stands. There is evidence that access to the theatre industry, at all entry points, remains reliant on assimilation into the existing (classed) cultural norms due to a long-standing ideological myth that working-class subjects are deficient in cultural capital. Consequently, the working-class origin artist struggles throughout their career with imposter syndrome and their agency to challenge cultural norms is limited by the existing rules of the game by which they must play, and their own lack of cultural confidence to do otherwise. In this way, cultural power and ideological (classed) norms remain undisturbed and continue to be propagated, regardless of demographic change. For this reason it is critical that the myth of working-class cultural deficit is made subject to analysis, exposure and challenge. This fellowship proposes that such a project must begin with an examination of the limitations of current manifestations of the working-class subject in theatre practice, policy and scholarship. The initial research will primarily be undertaken through sociological analysis of representations of the working-class subject in selected professional productions and participatory programmes. The research will additionally map the access, agency and authorship granted to working-class communities and participants within selected activity during 2022 - 23 of projects aimed to diversify and democratise artistic production.

The above analysis will be driven by a sustained period of research into sociological studies of class and stratification, which the PI will use to kick-start a reorientation of class discourse within theatre studies away from its current focus on the most precarious working-class subjects towards consideration of a much broader spectrum of working-class identities. This research activity will seek to influence and invigorate sustained interdisciplinary dialogue between theatre artists and scholars from sociology, cultural policy and theatre studies through two symposia, a three-day conference and a special issue journal. This interdisciplinary scholarly research will also be further placed into dialogue with a wider field of artists, producers and policy makers from the theatre industry through three regional workshops that will be designed to enable industry professionals to engage with the research questions and insights from the project in relation to their own policies and practice. The aim of these workshops is to examine what the practical and material outcomes for projects and policy informed by these insights might be and where the insights of the research so far might be contested or developed.