Output details

The Spirit of Theatre - research report

The Spirit of Theatre is a collaborative project, exploring the legacy of Manchester’s Library Theatre Company (LTC), and investigating how spectators construe the value of performance. Julie Wilkinson is principal investigator for the British Theatre Consortium (a co-operative of theatre experts representing five Universities). Contributors include colleagues from History, Art and Design and Business at MMU. The underlying question attempts to move beyond the contest between instrinsic and instrumental valuations of the Arts and follow Jaques Ranciere’s trajectory, in re-configuring the role of the audience in the active construction of artistic significance. The Library Theatre Company’s move from its base since 1952 allowed Julie to set a study of audience response to Chris Honer’s production of Mother Courage and her Children, in the context of that theatre’s historical contribution to the cultural life of the city. The research is informed by theoretical sources including a cross-disciplinary symposium organised by BTC with the Royal Society of Arts in 2011 From Spectatorship to Engagement, Matthew Reason’s work on kinaesthetic empathy, and Andrew Miles’s ongoing Understanding Everyday Participation study. The methodology draws on earlier theatre surveys and the Arts Council’s Taking Part research, but tests new dialogic techniques, including an interactive website (drawings,Simon Woolham; text,Julie W.) and creative workshops. The final selection of anonymous questionnaires comprises 65 full replies from before, straight after and one week after the show; and further in-depth interviews with 15 respondents. Other outputs include an Exhibition displayed at the Lowry from 27th Sept. 2013 (text by JW; design, Johnny Clifford); and The Spirit of Theatre report (JW sole author), published on the BTC website. The project’s distinctive approach has led the AHRC to fund a further BTC study of Cultural Value with three comparable producing theatres, the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Old Vic and The Drum, Plymouth.