7/30/2019 Political Futures

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/political-futures 1/1

Political Futures: Alternative Theatre in Britain Today

The history of alternative theatre in Britain can be dated from about 1965 when the agit-prop

group CAST was formed. From the outset it was an eclectic term that had its roots in an earlier

fringe tradition that derives from events at the Edinburgh Festival and elsewhere. During its

nearly forty year history alternative theatre has manifested itself in a multitude of different forms,

with groups interested, on one hand, in establishing a political agenda and, on the other,

concentrating on an avant-garde theatrical strategy. It has defined itself variously: in terms of 

location (in opposition to a mainstream tradition, or involved in attempts to take it over); this has

resulted in much alternative theatre being presented outside of the conventional theatre circuits

(site specific and much community theatre, for example): with issues of audience constituency

(seeking to play to non-conventional theatre audiences, or to reach specific and targeted

audiences): and with those of performance style (physical theatre and multi-media performance,

for example). The label “Alternative Theatre” can be seen in many ways as one of concealment,

disguising the plurality of visions, strategies and discourses that it incorporates.In the early 1990s the London journal Time Out removed nearly half the venues from its “Fringe

Theatre” listings, moving them to an “Off -West End” section, and in 1993 the British Alternative

Theatre Directory removed “Alternative” from its title. At the time these seemed appropriate

moves, but the following decade was to see a quite remarkable revitalisation of the alternative

theatre world. Contemporary culture, politics and new developments in theatre form, institutions

and technologies have redefined political/alternative theatre and its relationship to the

mainstream. That alternative theatre both reflects and reacts against mainstream obsessions is

apparent in its concern with spectacle, new technologies, the body, performance/performativity,

the notion of „event‟, but there are also shared interests in terms of issues, such as multi-

culturalism and globalisation , environmentalism, gender, nationalism/ nationhood, disaffection

with traditional politics (and a rejection of the State of the Nation Theatre), and questions around

bodily modification and interventions, cyborgs and virtual bodies, etc.

There are many potential issues for debate: about the relationship of the mainstream to the

alternative; the politics of the alternative (if there is one); where the alternative resides these days;

is the alternative outside theatre itself; how does the alternative/political theatre we see today

emerge from a political/ theatrical/ historical context?

In 2003, the alternative theatre has never seemed healthier or more vital to the cultural map. This

international conference will concentrate on the many faces of alternative theatre in Britain over

the last decade, and seek to make comparisons with alternative theatre elsewhere in the world. It

will do so with an awareness of its various histories, but with the prime aim of engaging with its

contemporaneous variety.