Performance and Community

Commentary and Case Studies

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• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9781408146422
• eBook ISBN:
  9781408147269
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Theatre

Performance practice in community settings is an established part of the cultural landscape. However, this practice is frequently viewed as functional: an intervention that seeks to solve, educate or heal. Performance and Community presents an alternative vision, focussing, instead, on the aesthetic and political ambitions of artists, organisations and cultural producers committed to this area.

Through case studies, this edited collection gives unprecedented access to some of the leading organisations in the field, examining their creative processes and placing them in their historical context. In parallel, a series of interviews with individual artists explores their approaches and how they are re-shaped by the communities that they encounter.

Case studies include: the Grassmarket Project, the Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company, London Bubble, Magic Me and the partnership between the artist, Mark Storor and producer, Anna Ledgard; while interviews in this collection include: Mojisola Adebayo, Bobby Baker, Sue Emmas, Tony Fegan, Paul Heritage, Rosemary Lee and Lois Weaver.

An invaluable resource for students of applied, social, community and contemporary theatre practices, Performance and Community provides vivid evidence of the complex negotiations between artist and community that lie at the heart of this delicate work.

Table of contents

• Dedication
• Title
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction: Right here, right now Caoimhe McAvinchey
• 1 Lois Weaver Interview and introduction by Caoimhe McAvinchey
• 2 ‘A marvellous experiment’ – exploring ideas of temporary community in a Magic Me intergenerational performance project Sue Mayo
• 3 Mojisola Adebayo Interview and introduction by Caoimhe McAvinchey
• 4 Lawnmowers Independent Theatre Company: The politics of making Ali Campbell
• 5 Bobby Baker Interview and introduction by Caoimhe McAvinchey
• 6 Meeting the others: Jeremy Weller’s Grassmarket Project Richard Ings
• 7 Rosemary Lee Interview and introduction by Martin Welton
• 8 The witness and the replay: London Bubble Louise Owen
• 9 Sue Emmas Interview and introduction by Lily Einhorn
• 10 The artist in collaboration: Art-making and partnership in the work of Mark Storor and Anna Ledgard Sue Mayo
• 11 Tony Fegan Interview and introduction by Caoimhe McAvinchey
• 12 Paul Heritage Interview and introduction by Caoimhe McAvinchey
• Permission
• Copyright