Description
Book SynopsisKatie Beswick is a lecturer in Drama at the University of Exeter, UK. Her research focuses on the intersections between theatre and structural inequality, with an emphasis on race and class. She has worked as a performer, writer, facilitator of applied theatre and as a social housing officer.
Trade ReviewKatie Beswick’s book addresses the crisis in UK council housing boldly, but also with great care and sensitivity.
Social Housing in Performance critiques the ways in which council estates are presented to us in the establishment media, and puts forward instead a compelling new typology for understanding housing issues through performance practice. -- Jane Rendell, The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London
After decades in which social housing in England has been neglected, Beswick’s deeply considered analysis of estate performance is very welcome. She examines not only how individual performances have figured working class life but also how these performances are caught up with broader perceptions of social housing and with British theatre’s own highly fraught class politics. This is a timely and important book. -- Michael McKinnie, Queen Mary University of London
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Three places: a preface Introduction: The council estate, definitions and parameters Chapter one: Quotidian performance of the council estate Chapter two: Class and the council estate in mainstream theatre Chapter three: Located on the estate Chapter four: Resident artists Conclusion: Three thoughts Notes Bibliography Index
