Jones, David (Researcher in education) (1996) Aesthetic justice and communal theatre : a new conceptual approach to the community play as an aspect of theatre for empowerment. PhD thesis, University of Warwick.

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Abstract

This study re-conceptualises the community play as an aspect of contemporary
British theatre. In the context of the idea of an arts entitlement which has
two components, participation and enjoyment, it examines three antecedents
to current practice. These are: theatre and empowerment, which looks at the
work of Brecht and Boal on conceptions of the audience; outreach work, which
examines the de-mystification of art by looking at the relationship between
theatre and education and community arts, which focuses on harnessing the
creative potential of ordinary people. The lines of development which link
these three areas to the community play are investigated. The history and
origins of the form are outlined and Ann Jellicoe's work with the Colway
Theatre Trust is examined.
The study offers a new conceptual vocabulary for the analysis of community
playmaking which has three principal terms: aesthetic materialism - a
development of Marxist principles as they relate to a consideration of the
aesthetic circumstances of the people; aesthetic justice - an application of
Beardsley's concept to contemporary society and current theatre practice; and
communal theatre - a new term developed as a result of this study which
clarifies the differences between participation and collaboration in the making
of community theatre. These three concepts are united by their relationship to
the rejection of bourgeois control of cultural capital which underpins the
investigative stance of the study.
Contemporary society is characterised by the study as aesthetically unjust and
the main questions it asks relate the search for aesthetic justice to the
developing form of the community play. The theoretical investigations of the
study are contextualized by fieldwork which consisted of a participant
observation case study of the community department of the Belgrade theatre,
Coventry. This spanned two years and focused on the 1992 Coventry
community play Diamonds in the Dust.
The study concludes with a comparison of the main forms of participatory
theatre in the 1990s which offers a means of identifying the heuristic value of
the various models of community playmaking with respect to their potential
for empowerment and contribution to aesthetic justice. The implications of the
study are that the participatory element of the arts entitlement needs to be
strengthened into true collaboration between the professionals and the non-professionals
involved in order to ensure equality of access to, and popular
control of, the cultural capital which is symbolised by the community play.
Communal theatre projects of this sort are assessed as being able to promote
the kind of shared experience which is necessary for the development of a
more aesthetically just society.

Item Type:	Thesis (PhD)
Subjects:	L Education > LB Theory and practice of education L Education > LC Special aspects of education N Fine Arts > NX Arts in general
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Theater -- Great Britain, Activity programs in education -- Great Britain, Education -- Great Britain, Aesthetics
Official Date:	April 1996
Institution:	University of Warwick
Theses Department:	Institute of Education
Thesis Type:	PhD
Publication Status:	Unpublished
Supervisor(s)/Advisor:	Robinson, Ken, 1950-
Extent:	viii, 283 leaves
Language:	eng

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