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" 'Welsh assemblies' : "
Shade, Ruth.
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Latin Dissertation
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| Record Number
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1093769
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| Doc. No
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TLets299922
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| Main Entry
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Shade, Ruth.
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| Title & Author
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'Welsh assemblies' :\ Shade, Ruth.
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| College
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University of Wolverhampton
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| Date
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1999
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| student score
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1999
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| Degree
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Ph.D.
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| Abstract
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The academic study of English-language theatre in Wales as adiscrete subject is a relatively small field. Indeed, only threebooks on Welsh theatre have been published during the 1990s.Moreover, there are those who would argue that the idea of adifferentiated Welsh, English-language theatre is an oxymoron.English-language theatre in Wales shares a linguistic mode ofcommunication with England's theatre and a problem is that itresembles the formal properties contained within its largerneighbour's theatre practices to the point where disaggregationmight seem a forlorn objective. The stress on language, however,ignores the fundamental significance of issues of class,political orientation and socio-cultural complexion, which iswhere important definitions of the identity of Welsh theatre canbe found. Wales is a different country and therefore we mightexpect it to manifest distinctive theatre practices. But theprocedures employed by the Arts Council have the effect ofstandardising professional theatre and of discouraging thedevelopment of critical thinking, which disqualifies many of thedistinguishing characteristics of English-language, Welshtheatre. This is particularly evident in those performancepractices which emanate from a working-class lived experience.The Arts Council's method of organisation can be described as aprocess of incorporation.This thesis responds to the situation by investigating therelationship between the Arts Council's disciplinary procedures,which determine incorporation, the promotion of normalisedEnglish theatre and the marginalisation of Welsh, working-classtheatre practices. The problem of Welsh theatre is depicted hereas contingent on the dissemination of English concepts of highstandards, which is central to the post-war Arts Council project.Thus, the main argument revolves around the idea that the notionof theatre in Wales is manipulated by an external agency. PartOne of the thesis marshals concepts about power which can explainhegemonic, or dominant, cultural structures. It includes specificreference to theories advanced by Raymond Williams, MichelFoucault, Antonio Gramsci and Edward Said. In the second part,the argument progresses through the presentation of researchabout the disciplinary procedures of the Arts Council as theyimpact on theatre forms. It also examines the standardisation oftheatre practices in the UK, as a whole, and the position ofWelsh theatre in that context. Finally, it addresses the statusof theatre practices in an archetypal area of the south WalesValleys, through a micro-analysis of Aberdare and its immediateenvirons.
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| Subject
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Literature
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| Added Entry
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University of Wolverhampton
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