Amateur Dramatics: Crafting Communities in Time and Space

This is the first major study of amateur dramatics. Amateur theatre has an active place in the social and cultural life of many communities, despite receiving little intervention from funding councils, charities, local authorities and professional theatre. Moreover, the term 'amateur' is often used disparagingly; professional actors continue to deride amateur dramatics for their production values, often vociferously, despite many performers having started their careers as amateurs. For theatremakers on the political Left, the perceived conservatism of 'am drams' has been seen an obstacle to community theatre. Academics have often been conspiciously silent on the subject of amateur dramatics, favouring forms of theatre that are more palatable to radical politics and more in tune with metropolitan taste. Yet for the participants in amateur dramatics themselves, the choice of repertoire, the craft of performance and the production values are deeply important.

This study will take the social and artistic intentions of amateur dramatic companies seriously. It will consider systems of apprenticeship and leadership, how casts and crew refine and develop their craft, and how their commitment to rehearsal, production, competitions and festivals shapes their skills as theatre-makers. The study will consider the social aspects of amateur dramatics: how participation fosters friendship and romance, weathers conflict and fall-outs, and sustains family involvement and community participation across generations. It will examine how amateur dramatics is viewed by audiences and valued as heritage, and the contribution made to productions by the wider communities in which they are situated.

The research will focus particular attention on amateur dramatics in constructed communities, that is communities conceived to fulfil particular social and institutional functions (military bases, naval ships), or designed as utopian imaginaries of urban life (Garden Cities/ post-war New Towns and suburbia) and rural villages constructed in the transition from organic communities to commuter dormitories. By researching cultural activity in non-metropolitan communities, it will address questions of international significance by asking how and if amateur dramatics contributes to sustaining and revitalising communities; whether amateur theatre companies resist change or adapt to new circumstances; why people give time to amateur dramatics; how participation enhances wellbeing and raises the quality of community life. This research will be conducted with and by members of amateur dramatic companies, who will share their insights and local knowledge.

It is significant that this research is proposed in a context in which creativity is recognised as valuable commodity in globalised, knowledge-based economies and State funding for the professional arts has been cut. In times of austerity and recession, funding for participatory arts as a means of promoting social cohesion has been eroded. Nonetheless, there is a widespread cultural anxiety that although we may be increasingly globally networked, many people scarcely know their neighbours, leading to loneliness and social isolation. This makes questions about the practice of amateur arts all the more pressing. There is urgent need to understand the social, cultural and economic significance of amateur dramatics - as one of the most social, sociable and durable cultural practices. The project will culminate in a research festival that will bring together amateur and professional theatremakers, academics and cultural policy-makers to share practice and experience, and consider future possibilities. The outcomes will be of interest to cultural policy, voluntary arts organisations, Naval and military institutions, local authorities and heritage groups, as well as to the amateur dramatic companies themselves. By studying amateur dramatics in the past and present, this research will inform the future.

This project has the potential for impact for a broad range of project partners at national and local level, and individual community participants across the amateur dramatics community of interest. In addition to reaching public audiences, the research will benefit three specific interest groups and organisations:

1) The Third Sector: National and Local Organisations that support Amateur and Voluntary Arts
This project builds on partnerships developed with national bodies in the sector including Voluntary Arts (VA) and the Little Theatre Guild through the AHRC funded Connected Communities study, The Role of Grassroots Arts Activities in Communities (completed in 2011). New relationships have been forged with national and local cultural organisations including the Royal Navy Theatre Association (RNTA), the National Operatic and Drama Association (NODA) and Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation (LGCHF). The research is designed to draw on existing knowledge of the sector from these project partners, and seeks to understand whether amateur dramatics contributes to sustaining and revitalising geographically located communities. Representatives from project partnerships are included on the Advisory Board, acting as expert consultants at regular meetings through the research. The research will generate bespoke internal reports for partner organisations that will address their specific concerns about place of amateur dramatics in community life. The impact of this research has international reach through the case studies: military personel from many nations participate in amateur drama; Garden Cities and New Towns across the world are being reimagined to address 21st century challenges; cultural changes in rural communities affect many European countries.

2) Community Stakeholders: Amateur Dramatics Companies
The project's three detailed case studies involve community participants in a variety of amateur dramatic groups from the Royal Navy, in New Towns and Garden Cities and suburban communities along the Metropolitan Line, and in the villages of Devon. These stakeholders will be co-creators of knowledge, by sharing their creativity and craft, through oral histories, and in the shared production of website material and digtial archives. We will collaborate with key local organisations to produce content for exhibitions documenting the history and contemporary practice of amateur dramatics. The project culminates with a Research Festival to showcase the work of partner amateur dramatic companies and, by linking amateur and professional theatre-makers, will open the work beyond the world of amateur participants to professional arts organisations.

3) Cultural Policy-Makers
The project will offer the first complete survey of contemporary amateur dramatic companies in England. It is focused on amateur dramatic companies that are specifically set up to make theatre, rather than amateur performance in professional theatre or voluntary organisations that include amateur drama amongst their activities (The Women's Institute or the Scouts, for example). The research will address issues of social inclusivity, asking whether amateur drama connects or divides communities, particularly in areas of cultural and ethnic diversity. The Research Festival will curate conversations about the strategic implications of the research with policy-makers from the Arts Council England, the Department of Culture, Media, and Sport, local government bodies, heritage foundations and amateur theatre associations. The reports, developed in collaboration with research partners, will speak to this audience and will be available for wide dissemination. The research will provide valuable evidence about the amateur use of recreational spaces, generate data about how leisure time is spent, and analyse how, and if, amateur dramatics contributes to connecting communities.