Early Days: Reflections on the Performance of a Referendum
- Submitting institution
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Royal Conservatoire of Scotland
- Unit of assessment
- 33 - Music, Drama, Dance, Performing Arts, Film and Screen Studies
- Output identifier
- 2400728
- Type
- D - Journal article
- DOI
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10.1080/10486801.2015.1020719
- Title of journal
- Contemporary Theatre Review
- Article number
- -
- First page
- 242
- Volume
- 25
- Issue
- 2
- ISSN
- 1477-2264
- Open access status
- Out of scope for open access requirements
- Month of publication
- April
- Year of publication
- 2015
- URL
-
-
- Supplementary information
-
-
- Request cross-referral to
- -
- Output has been delayed by COVID-19
- No
- COVID-19 affected output statement
- -
- Forensic science
- No
- Criminology
- No
- Interdisciplinary
- No
- Number of additional authors
-
1
- Research group(s)
-
-
- Proposed double-weighted
- No
- Reserve for an output with double weighting
- No
- Additional information
- This article seeks to capture and reflect on performance created in the lead up to the Scottish Referendum of 2014. We were interested in how the referendum was “performed” in a range of contexts and how performance spaces were used to hear and debate the key issues surrounding the vote. Our aim was to present a snapshot of the diverse events that took place and to ask ‘What now?’ for performance, for politics, and for Scotland.
As part of the Contemporary Theatre Review issue on Electoral Theatre, we were engaging with recent political events as well as relevant critical material around political performance. We used performance analysis and critical reflection on events that we had witnessed live, and situated this work within the field of contemporary performance, acknowledging the genre to be responsive to evolving cultural, political, social and ecological contexts.
We found that many of the works were not trying to persuade audiences but were, rather, using theatre venues as civic spaces in which to explore and interrogate the issues of how we choose. The performance and wider art scene in Scotland engaged with, and contributed directly to, a palpable energy and appetite for change. We indicate at the end of this article that performance has a role to play in future political events.
In addition to the article, we also created a short documentary video for CTR Interventions where we interviewed artists, performance-makers and those working in cultural policy to get their perspectives on the impact of the referendum.
This was jointly authored with a long-term collaborator of mine, David Overend, and connects with a later article 'There is Such a Thing…' which builds on this work to discuss other political events such as the EU referendum and the role performance has in shaping and reflecting these events.
- Author contribution statement
- -
- Non-English
- No
- English abstract
- -