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Good Nights Out: Activating the Audience with 7:84 (England)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

Nadine Holdsworth
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Abstract

John McGrath is recognized as a leading practitioner and theorist of popular and political theatre, in large part due to his work with 7:84 (England) and 7:84 (Scotland), but also through the contributions he has made to the debate surrounding this form of theatre, as summed up in his publication of A Good Night Out in 1981 and of The Bone Won't Break in 1990. McGrath has also written numerous articles, including those to be found in TQ19, TQ35, and NTQ4, in which he documents the work of the 7:84 companies and discusses the defining characteristics, ideological perspective, and potential for socio-political intervention of political theatre. Here, Nadine Holdsworth looks specifically at the importance of the audience as it related to 7:84 (England) in the 1970s and 1980s, and identifies some of the strategies employed by the company to attract and maintain a radical working-class audience. Nadine Holdsworth lectures in Theatre Studies at De Montfort University and has recently completed her doctoral thesis on McGrath and the 7:84 (England) Company, from which this research is derived. She has also catalogued an extensive archive on the company which is held at Cambridge University.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Theatre Quarterly , Volume 13 , Issue 49 , February 1997 , pp. 29 - 40
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1997

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References

Notes and References

1. For a history of the alternative theatre movement at this time, see Itzin, Catherine, Stages in the Revolution (Methuen, 1980)Google Scholar, and Craig, Sandy, ed., Dreams and Deconstructions (Amber Lane Press, 1980)Google Scholar. See also van Erven, Eugene, Radical People's Theatre (Indiana University Press, 1988)Google Scholar; Kershaw, Baz, The Politics of Performance (Routledge, 1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; and Davies, Andrew, Other Theatres (Macmillan, 1987)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2. This element of choice was fundamental to the accusations of incorporation McGrath levelled at political dramatists such as Barker, Howard, Brenton, Howard, and Hare, David in A Good Night Out (Methuen, 1981), p. 14–15Google Scholar. See also McGrath, John, ‘The Theory and Practice of Political Theatre’, Theatre Quarterly, IX, No. 35 (1979) p. 43–54Google Scholar.

3. See Kershaw, Baz, The Politics of Performance (Routledge, 1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

4. In 1979 a debate was entered into by David Edgar and John McGrath concerning the relative intervention made by alternative theatre practice in working-class communities. See Edgar, , ‘Ten Years of Political Theatre, 1968–78’, Theatre Quarterly, VIII, No. 32 (1979), p. 25–33Google Scholar, and McGrath, , ‘The Theory and Practice of Political Theatre’, Theatre Quarterly, IX, No. 35 (1979) p. 43–54Google Scholar.

5. See Kershaw, Baz, The Politics of Performance (Routledge, 1992), p. 132–48CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

6. For a discussion of the scale of this circuit see Itzin, Catherine, Stages in the Revolution (Methuen, 1980), p. xivGoogle Scholar.

7. See Gooch, Steve, All Together Now (Methuen, 1984)Google Scholar, and Kershaw, Baz, The Politics of Performance (Routledge, 1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8. Cambridge University Library, 7:84 (England) Theatre Company Archive, Box 8/28.

9. Lockwood, Julie, ‘A Dramatic Voice for NUM Support’, Sheffield Morning Telegraph, 30 01 1985, p. 2Google Scholar.

10. Programme Note, 7:84 (England) Archive, Box 8/28.

11. From the programme of The Garden of England, which opened on Tuesday 29 January 1985, 7:84 (England) Archive, Box 8/28.

12. See Chambers, Colin and Prior, Mike, Playwrights Progress (Amber Lane Press, 1987), p. 67–75Google Scholar.

13. For a discussion of ‘performative contradiction’ see Kershaw, , ‘Poaching in Thatcherland: a Case of Radical Community Theatre’, New Theatre Quarterly, IX, No. 34 (1993), p. 121–33CrossRefGoogle Scholar

14. Letter sent to Arts Council, 16 May 1984, contained within the appeal document, 7:84 (England) Archive, Box 11/28.

15. Mass Observation Ltd., ‘Report of the Survey of Small-Scale Drama Groups' Audiences’, Arts Council Library, Market Research Collection (1978), p. 9.

16. Ibid.

17. Ibid., p. 17.

18. Appeal document submitted to the Arts Council on 31 May 1984, ‘Reasons for Not Terminating the Active Life of 7:84 Theatre Company England’, 7:84 (England) Archive, Box 11/28.

19. 7:84 (England) leaflet, 7:84 (England) Archive, Box 8/28.

20. One Big Blow Production File, 7:84 (England) Archive, Box 7/28.

21. Arts Council, 7:84 (England) Company Files.

22. 7:84 (England) flyer, 7:84 (England) Archive, Box 8/28.

23. Drama Department Show Report, Arts Council, 7:84 (England) Company Files.

24. Ibid.

25. McGrath, John, The Bone Won't Break (Methuen, 1990), p. 5Google Scholar.

26. For a detailed discussion, see Gilroy, Paul, There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack (Hutchinson, 1987)Google Scholar.

27. See Kershaw, Baz, The Politics of Performance (Routledge, 1992)CrossRefGoogle Scholar.