Theatre, education and the politics of life itself (original) (raw)

2020, Manchester University Press eBooks

Over the first two decades of the twenty-first century, one UK-based theatre company systematically engaged with emergent themes in the biological and related sciences probably more than any other, at least in terms of the number of productions, collaborations with scientists and other experts, and total audiences reached. Unlike the practices discussed so far in this book though, most of Y Touring Theatre Company's work was not presented within theatres. Over this time Y Touring worked largely, although not exclusively, within state-funded secondary schools, most often targeting their work at audiences of secondary school students (11-18). Over a 25-year period from 1989 to 2014, the company toured one or two new productions every year, often of a newly commissioned play, with each play responding to a range of complex themes and reaching several thousand young people and their teachers on each tour. Y Touring was closed as a division of Central YMCA in 2014, but core members of the company have continued to work as the independent charity Theatre of Debate. I devote this chapter to a study of Y Touring's work partly because of the length of time over which the company worked in the field and the consequent depth and breadth of their practical exploration of science in performance. However, my focus on Y Touring recognises the significance of their work not just in quantitative terms but also as a carefully designed dramaturgical 4