British Theatre Conference

University of Birmingham, Selly Oak Campus
Saturday March 13th- Sunday March 14th 2010.
2009-10 marks the twentieth anniversary of the foundation of what was then the MA in Playwriting in Birmingham, the first course of its kind in Britain. To mark this anniversary, 20/20 will reflect on the impact of the study of playwriting on [...]

Many thanks to everyone who came to speak or to listen. 120 delegates from across the world gathered at the Warwick Arts Centre to address a range of questions around the debates about British theatre and multiculturalism - from the promise and perils of theatre as social engineering, the way theatre can explore the histories [...]

Under Labour, the arts were charged with challenging social exclusion, celebrating diversity and reasserting Britishness. But is there a contradiction between diversity and national identity? Should theatre foster cohesion or challenge it? If multiculturalism is dead, should theatre be promoting it? Is the theatre’s role to encourage tolerance or provoke outrage?
This two-day conference at Warwick [...]

In 1997, Tony Blair became Prime Minister in a wave of renewed cultural confidence. The new government abolished entrance charges to museums and galleries, encouraged widening access to the arts, and made a generous new settlement to regional theatre. The newlyd-devolved Scottish Executive made real the long-held dream of a National Theatre of Scotland.
So what [...]