Drama instigates debate and changes lives. With venues open again, this is a chance to build a truly civic theatre culture
Theatre may not seem like a natural place to go in order to understand the forces of climate emergency, nationalism, financial upheaval and a deadly pandemic. In a world dominated by Netflix, Google, Facebook, Apple, Twitter and any number of other online platforms, the idea of using theatre to drive change and inform our political and public life may seem naive, even quaint.
But theatre offers something different: space. Physical, oxygen-filled space, occupied by living, breathing, thinking people. Space is our secret weapon, and the way in which theatre changes lives, cities, countries and continents. It is also, contrary to what Peter Brook espouses, never “empty” – rather, as Ngũgĩ wa Thiong’o has pointed out, it is “always the site of physical, social and psychic forces”. Which makes it welcoming, thick with stories and ripe for exploiting at a civic level.
