Memory, Meaning, and Belonging: How Space Is Made for and by Young People in the Birmingham Repertory Theatre, UK

Abstract

Through an examination of spatial dynamics, this article will discuss the relationship that members of a youth theatre who rehearsed inside a theatre had with the building. It explores the effect that the theatre closing for refurbishment had on these participants and the decisions that were made regarding the youth theatre when the building reopened. This article draws on the findings of an Arts and Humanities Research Council-funded collaborative doctoral award, in collaboration with the University of Warwick in the UK and The Birmingham Repertory Theatre, also in the UK. The research was a mixed-method, exploratory case study, which alongside conventional methods of questionnaire, interview, and observation, utilized more innovative methods including photography and drama as research tools. The study revealed that the more insider access a young person has to a theatre, the deeper the levels of meaning they ascribe to it, and this article focuses on the group who had been given the most access to the building.

A través de un examen de la dinámica espacial, este artículo discutirá la relación que los miembros de un grupo teatral de jóvenes que ensayaban en el interior de un teatro, tenían con el edificio. Se explora el efecto que el cierre del teatro por remodelación tuvo en estos participantes, y las decisiones que se tomaron en relación con el grupo teatral de jóvenes, cuando el edificio volvió a abrir. Este artículo se basa en los hallazgos a los que llegó una investigación doctoral financiada conun premio del Consejo de las Artes y Humanidades de Investigación, en colaboración con la Universidad de Warwick en el Reino Unido y el Birmingham Repertory Theatre, también en el Reino Unido. La investigación fue realizada en un método mixto: un estudio de caso exploratorio que, junto con los métodos convencionales de cuestionario, entrevista y observación, utilizó métodos más innovadores, incluyendo la fotografía y el teatro como herramientas de investigación. El estudio reveló que en cuanto más acceso interno tiene una persona joven a un teatro, más profundamente atribuye niveles de significado al mismo, y este artículo se centra en el grupo que había recibido el mayor acceso al edificio.

Notes

¹ The Arts Council is the national development agency for the arts that distributes public money from the government and the National Lottery.

² http://www.artscouncil.org.uk/goal/5

³ Rhys McClelland, a thirty-three-year-old white man with Celtic heritage and working-class roots, is a youth theatre director and passionate learner.

I drew from Kathleen Gallagher’s (2007) tool of offering research participants the chance to write their own “Identity Descriptors” (9). I offered this opportunity to all of those whom I interviewed, including the young people whom I interviewed, with the exception of the Steering Group for whom there was no time. Some participants declined to take up this opportunity. The adult participants were given the choice to be known as their name and job title or just their job title. All young people were assigned pseudonyms. The identity descriptors are “true” for that moment in time.

⁴ Natalie Hart, a thirty-one-year-old white woman with Celtic heritage and working-class roots, is a drama facilitator and PhD researcher.

⁵ Members of the centrally based Young REP groups.

⁶ Steve Ball is a fifty-two-year-old white urban theatre professional and gay father.

⁷ Edwards and Usher 2000, 31; Horton, Kraftl, and Tucker 2011, 40.

⁸ Cresswell 2004, 8; Tuan 1977, 198.

⁹ Carter, Donald, and Squires 1993, xii; Cresswell 2004, 10; Low and Lawrence-Zúñiga 2003, 13; Tuan 1977, 6, 73, and 136.

¹⁰ Nicholson 2011, 11; Pandya 1990 as cited in Low and Lawrence-Zúñiga 2003, 5.

¹¹ Barry Jackson was knighted in 1925.

¹² This population contrasts with the national picture in the UK, where pensioners outnumber children.

¹³ Juniors was the only remaining age-specific group.

¹⁴ Hannah Phillips is a thirty-three-year-old queer woman with Jewish heritage and a theatre maker, lecturer, and facilitator.

¹⁵ These groups had historically rehearsed at the theatre

¹⁶ The questionnaires offered statements with the option to choose: strongly agree, agree, neither agree nor disagree, disagree, or strongly disagree.

¹⁷ Cresswell 2004, 20; McAuley 1999, 25–26.

¹⁸ Annabel is a seventeen-year-old, white (yet olive-skinned) girl. “Think myself to be English—has Irish heritage as well as mish-mash of heritage deeper on my Dad’s side, dark brown eyes and hair.” She is an aspiring actress.

¹⁹ Eve is an eighteen-year-old, white grammar school leaver, struggling through her A-levels, only one hand, going to drama school in September.

²⁰ Parker is thirteen years old. “My Mum is from Manchester and Dad is from Somerset, but I have been brought up in a West Indian and Asian community! Also I would say I am interested in the backstage side of theatre!”

²¹ Daniel: “I am fourteen years old; I come from an English/Indian background. I’m interested in music and drama and would have a career in that sort of thing.”

²² Carter, Donald, and Squires 1993, pxii; Cresswell 2004, 10; Low and Lawrence-Zúñiga 2003, 13; Tuan 1977, 6, 73, 136.

²³ Govan et al. 2007, 108; Massey 2005, 9, 175.

²⁴ Nicholson 2011, 11; Pandya 1990 as cited in Low and Lawrence-Zúñiga 2003, 5.