'Village Hall Work Can Never Be "Theatre"': Amateur Theatre and the Arts Council of Great Britain, 1945-56
This article draws on research in the Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB) archive in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and throws new light on the relationship between the ACGB and amateur theatre in the immediate years after the Second World War. It investigates the marginalisation of amate...
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| Published in: | Contemporary theatre review 2017-01, Vol.27 (1), p.76-91 |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | eng |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | Get full text |
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| Summary: | This article draws on research in the Arts Council of Great Britain (ACGB) archive in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London and throws new light on the relationship between the ACGB and amateur theatre in the immediate years after the Second World War. It investigates the marginalisation of amateur theatre within the wider context of ACGB policy in this period and interrogates some of the factors behind, and responses to, the Drama Panel's antipathy towards the amateur. It explores the reasons driving the binary model of subsidy that prioritised the professional status quo, undermined the egalitarian and artistic objectives of drama policy, and diverted considerable state resources to commercial West End managements. It argues that by the 1950s, the ACGB had limited the influence of commercial theatre on the drama policy that was to shape the future direction of the post-war subsidised theatre: a future that was to focus on artistic risk and the regional theatre, yet was to further alienate the amateur theatre-maker. |
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| ISSN: | 1048-6801 1477-2264 |