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Using theatre to educate, empower and inform communities

Summary of the impact

Bill McDonnell's research into participatory theatre has impacted on culture, education, and policy, both nationally, through a report — Social Impact in UK Theatre — commissioned by Arts Council England and the Independent Theatre Council, which remains the only report exclusively devoted to the social impact of theatre; and locally, through `Acting Together', a Theatre in Education company led by McDonnell, which works with museums and schools to promote diversity, inclusiveness, multiculturalism, and civic cohesiveness; and to increase the skills, knowledge, and cultural agility of children from areas of significant socio-economic deprivation, enriching the lives, imaginations, and sensibilities of individuals and groups.

Submitting Institution

University of Sheffield

Unit of Assessment

English Language and Literature

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Performing Arts and Creative Writing
Language, Communication and Culture: Literary Studies

4. Life as Story: The Applied Theatre Practice of Nicola McCartney

Summary of the impact

Nicola McCartney's work as a practitioner of Applied Theatre has had impacts on civil society, education, and cultural life, contributing to transforming society by directly benefitting both vulnerable groups and theatre professionals internationally. Via her work with Rachel's House, a prisoner re-entry programme in Ohio, 7 women ex-offenders and 8 members of staff benefitted from McCartney's use of dramatic narrative as the basis for therapeutic interventions and to facilitate the integration of disenfranchised groups into mainstream communities. 80 Theatre professionals in Russia, and pupils and teachers from 8 Moscow schools, have also benefitted from training in McCartney's Applied Theatre methods, providing them with a new and innovative way of working with disenfranchised groups and individuals.

Submitting Institution

University of Edinburgh

Unit of Assessment

English Language and Literature

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Education: Specialist Studies In Education
Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Performing Arts and Creative Writing

Pre-text based process drama in the professions: a case study across cultural boundaries

Summary of the impact

Allan Owens has worked worldwide to bring drama into the professions. He has developed an artistic form that has impacted in a wide range of contexts including the social sector, in education, health, and public service, and also in private business. The trajectory of his research and practice has been concerned with pioneering the use of pre-text based process drama as a form of artistic initiative beyond mainstream education. The underlying research consists of authored articles and pre-texts which were part of the 2008 RAE submission classed as `internationally recognised with world leading elements'.

Submitting Institution

University of Chester

Unit of Assessment

Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Human Society: Sociology
Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Performing Arts and Creative Writing
Language, Communication and Culture: Literary Studies

Engaging New Theate Audiences

Summary of the impact

Research undertaken at the University of East London has confronted the historical lack of documentation, representation and participation in the British theatre by ethnic minority communities, with particular reference to the British Asian community. This work has been used to create and shape the production of important new theatre pieces, as well as to engage and develop new young and diverse audiences for them. Workshops, post-show discussions and symposia relating to the production of these pieces have increased the engagement of these new audiences both with theatre generally, and with the often sensitive, contested, and politically-charged subject-matter of the specific pieces under review. The research has also been used as the basis for the development and delivery of professional development training for emerging theatre artists from minority community backgrounds.

Submitting Institution

University of East London

Unit of Assessment

Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Performing Arts and Creative Writing
Language, Communication and Culture: Literary Studies
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies

Censorship in the German Democratic Republic (GDR): Working with the Scottish cultural sector to promote public understanding of artistic production under dictatorship

Summary of the impact

Laura Bradley's research on GDR theatre censorship (2006-) enabled the University of Edinburgh to stage The Stasi are Among Us at the Glasgow Film Festival (2011). This two-day event increased public understanding of East German culture, showing how artists participated in censorship and how it affected their working lives: 95% of the audience agreed that they had learned more about GDR culture and/or censorship. The event's success led the Glasgow Film Festival's Artistic Director to choose Germany as the country focus for the 2012 Festival. Bradley has collaborated with Theatre Found on events campaigning against present-day censorship in Belarus and Iran, using the recent East German experience to explore control mechanisms and show how they were abolished.

Submitting Institution

University of Edinburgh

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Performing Arts and Creative Writing
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies

Out of the Wings: The Research and Practice of Spanish American Theatre in Translation

Summary of the impact

This case study describes the impact of making academic knowledge of Spanish-language theatre widely available so that it creates opportunities for translation, performance and learning. Since 2008, the AHRC-funded project `Out of the Wings' has provided the English-language theatre professional with access to thoroughly researched and contextualized information about Spanish-language theatre that is fit for professional purpose through a database that provides comprehensive information for and about translators, writers, key practitioners and scholars. The work has created the environment for engagement with previously unknown theatre, resulting in new translations, the development of methodologies for the rehearsal of the translated text and the creation of new audiences.

Submitting Institution

King's College London

Unit of Assessment

Modern Languages and Linguistics

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies, Literary Studies
History and Archaeology: Historical Studies

Applied Theatre as Intervention in Wellbeing

Summary of the impact

Exeter Drama's research in Applied Theatre has had impact in the improvement of community understandings of mental health, providing professional development for medics and teachers, and providing and informing training in applied and community theatre. This case study outlines the impact of last twenty years of research and performance practice in applied theatre, developed by Honorary Research Fellow (2005-) and former senior lecturer (1990-2005) John Somers, and continued in the work of Fiona MacBeth, Kerrie Schaefer, Sarah Goldingay, Anna Harpin, and Jane Milling. Somers developed new approaches to community theatre and has given presentations on this work internationally. Impact has also been achieved through Somers' founding of the applied theatre company Exstream (Exeter, 2001) and under his direction Exstream achieved a reputation for excellence through the development of interactive theatre, raising awareness of issues related to wellbeing, mental health, and creativity within the community.

Submitting Institution

University of Exeter

Unit of Assessment

Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services

Promoting understanding of transsexuality

Summary of the impact

The impacts of the research include: a) promotion of self-esteem in transgendered youth; b) changing attitudes among school and college students and training teachers; c) modelling best practice in support organisations; d) shaping opinion in influential forums up to Parliamentary level. These impacts are planned, centrally coordinated and delivered by an infrastructure developed out of the research for this purpose: Gendered Intelligence (GI). Co-founded by researcher Catherine McNamara, GI is the leading organisation in its field, with impacts felt nation-wide, from Plymouth to East Anglia. The value of GI's impact has been recognised at governmental level by the Minister for Schools.

Submitting Institution

Royal Central School of Speech & Drama

Unit of Assessment

Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Medical and Health Sciences: Public Health and Health Services
Studies In Human Society: Sociology
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies

Cultural capital in telling tales: the benefits to community and arts professionals of Helen Newall’s portfolio of research-based ‘responsive’ play scripts.

Summary of the impact

The research and the practice methodology that underpin the emergence of the responsive play scripts, alongside the performances of the plays, have had the following impacts:

a) Educational — improving exposure to music and performance-making of over one thousand school students, and teachers, in over twenty schools,

b) Communities, the General Public, Audiences — restoring, and increasing opportunities for audiences disenfranchised from access to locally generated performance by Chester's Gateway Theatre's closure (2007), to see and/or participate in performance events of high professional standard and thereby engage with local narratives and histories

c) Local theatre professionals — restoring and increasing employment opportunities, and broadening skill sets appropriate to non-traditional performance contexts

Reach: theatre audiences: 7,480; audiences at outdoor events: 27,000.

Significance: evidenced by repeat commissions for playscripts and touring productions.

Submitting Institution

Edge Hill University

Unit of Assessment

Music, Drama, Dance and Performing Arts

Summary Impact Type

Cultural

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Film, Television and Digital Media, Performing Arts and Creative Writing
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies

Activating the Reminiscence Theatre Archive (ARTA)

Summary of the impact

Reminiscence theatre's primary goals are to improve the well-being of senior citizens and promote intergenerational dialogue. ARTA has successfully engaged 100 marginalised older people, 13 young volunteers and over 200 others since 2012. The project has created a new model of reminiscence theatre by proving that archive material can be used instead of live interviews. It has learned the strengths and weaknesses of this approach and found creative solutions to the problems. It has also given the Reminiscence Theatre Archive a long-term `living' future. Finally ARTA has disseminated good practice internationally through a website, articles, training events and conferences.

Submitting Institution

University of Greenwich

Unit of Assessment

English Language and Literature

Summary Impact Type

Societal

Research Subject Area(s)

Studies In Creative Arts and Writing: Performing Arts and Creative Writing
Language, Communication and Culture: Cultural Studies, Literary Studies

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