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 multiculturalism 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.