A Question Of Class

Working title of a theatrical research & development project, exploring the comedy in the rules and perceptions of the English class system over the last 100 years.

Partners

Stewart Magrath	Actor / Researcher	http://www.stewart-magrath.com
Greg Powles	Actor / Researcher	https://www.gregpowles.com/
Sara Bodinar	Writer	https://sarabodinar.com/
Dr Mark Rothery	UoN Centre for Historical Studies	https://www.northampton.ac.uk/research/research-institutes-and-centres/the-centre-for-historical-studies-chs/

Objectives

We're researching and developing a comedy play that we will tour around rural areas of the East Midlands and Anglia regions of England.

We want to bring new, high quality productions to these areas first.

To encourage community engagement and creativity, we're developing a process of working with communities around each venue, that will facilitate the creation of their own ensemble work, on the same themes as the play, to be performed alongside the new work.

This model will become a template for bringing more new, high quality work to rural areas while encouraging on-going creativity within those communities.

Target Locations

We are targeting areas in the E Midlands and Anglia, identified by Arts Council England as "Priority Areas" or "Levelling Up for Culture Places" as shown below:

Timeline

We will be working with local communities and UoN to gather stories and historical context, before devising the play and developing the workshop plan. We will have rehearsed readings in September / November.