This chapter explores the diversity of theatre outside London in the post-war period with a particular emphasis on work produced in the four nations that make up the UK and in the regions of England. It argues that much of this work has been under-examined and undervalued, and that a persistent metropolitan bias has long distorted existing accounts of British theatre in the period. The recent re-animation of distinctive regional and national identities within the context of an increasingly fractured and unstable UK, makes the continuation of this critical approach untenable. The chapter aims to set the record straight, therefore but also to note that metropolitan bias has been similarly at work in cultural policy and the distribution of funding, with the result that audiences in some parts of the country have been much better served than others. My aim is to consider the impacts of this persistent unfairness in its multiple contexts.

This chapter focuses on David Garrick as the most important catalyst for acoustic change in the eighteenth and early nineteenth century. His naturalistic style of acting has often been discussed within the wider context of the Enlightment. Largely overlooked, though, is the impact of his voice, which was notoriously marked by regional inflections, and of his debut as Richard III in one of London's illegitimate theatres, on two important movements, led by two men, both called John Palmer. These two movements aimed to widen access to Shakespeare by obtaining licences for regional theatres and by encouraging non-professional actors, amateurs and enthusiasts from lower-status social groups to perform Shakespeare in non-conventional venues, ranging from minor or private theatres, to smaller performance houses and song and supper clubs.