Description
Book SynopsisThis book is the first major study of amateur theatre, offering new perspectives on its place in the cultural and social life of communities. Historically informed, it traces how amateur theatre has impacted national repertoires, contributed to diverse creative economies, and responded to changing patterns of labour. Based on extensive archival and ethnographic research, it traces the importance of amateur theatre to crafting places and the ways in which it sustains the creativity of amateur theatre over a lifetime. It asks: how does amateur theatre-making contribute to the twenty-first century amateur turn?
Trade Review“This study is a hugely satisfying read, both critical and timely … . The book is both theoretically rich and immensely readable, and it will, I am sure, be a spur to many to take up its challenge; to not only pay more attention to the histories and present practices of amateur theatre, but to begin to look critically at the value hierarchies that dominate the theatre studies discipline more widely as a consequence.” (Liz Tomlin, Journal of Contemporary Drama in English, Vol. 8 (2), 2020)
Table of Contents1. Ecologies of Amateur Theatre.- 2. Valuing Amateur Theatre.- 3. Amateur Repertoires.- 4. Amateur Theatre,Place and Place-Making.- 5. Making Time for Amateur Theatre: Work, Labour and Free Time.- 6. Making Amateur Theatre.- 7. Amateur Theatre: Heritage and Invented Traditions.- 8. Theatre and the Amateur Turn: Future Ecologies.
