On June 24 2016 the news that a majority had voted to leave the European Union shook the UK arts establishment. Rufus Norris, artistic director of the Royal National Theatre (NT), described it as a 'wake-up call' that revealed profound anti-London sentiments and a fragmented society. Described by Pippa Norris as a 'cultural backlash' (2019), the Brexit vote prompted a period of reflection in the arts community, leading major city-based theatres to reassess their relationship with neighbouring towns and build new programmes to extend their local and national reach. In April 2019 Arts Council England (ACE) called for 'relevance' as well high quality in their future strategy, with the intention to engage a public that, according to ACE's deputy chief executive Simon Mellor, 'has lost all confidence in what they view as an out-of-touch establishment'. One response has been to re-examine the civic role of the arts, described by The Gulbenkian Foundation as 'the sociopolitical impact that organisations make on a place and its people through programmes of activity' (2016). Theatre depends on the live event, bringing people together to share experience, and is particularly well-placed to open pressing questions about new forms of civic equality. This research is timely, but it also looks beyond the current moment to ask deeper questions about the ideal of an inclusive civic theatre today. The theatre has long been a place for citizens to debate, to meet and learn, and, historically, the ideal of a civic theatre has resurfaced in times of instability and social reform. Civic theatres represented civic pride in Victorian England and newly-built theatres were symbols of hope in the era of post-war reconstruction. Yet traditional ideas of the civic dropped out of favour with arts organisations and cultural policy-makers in the second half of the twentieth century, not least because they carried associations with the arts as 'civilising' that were inherently hierarchical. The ideal of community replaced the notion of civil society, leading publicly funded theatres to establish community programmes that encourage participation. This research will draw on the past to inform the present, and with our Project Partners and Collaborating Organisation, analyse how barriers to creating an inclusive theatre today might be overcome. This research aims to prompt a national conversation about the civic role of theatre in the twenty-first century. Despite considerable research on theatre in cities, there has been no systematic research on theatres in towns. Towns receive considerably less public subsidy for the arts than cities, and townspeople have fewer opportunities to contribute to the creative economy, despite often supporting a thriving amateur theatre scene. This risks leaving people living in towns feeling disenfranchised and excluded, perpetuating the perception that cities are edgy and forward-looking whereas towns are conservative backwaters. To redress this balance, the research brings together amateur, professional and community theatres from different types of towns (e.g. seaside, market, post-industrial and new towns). It will examine the programmes of two major city-based producing house theatres that take place in towns and with diverse communities, the NT's Public Acts and Manchester Royal Exchange's Local Exchange programme. The research seeks to understand how barriers to participating in theatre might be removed, how diverse voices might be better represented, and how a practical approach to civic engagement in theatre might transcend entrenched social, cultural and economic divisions as well as open fresh ways of thinking about institutional cultures across the theatre sector.

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.