Research on Amateur Theatre

Research on amateur theatre in general is a marginalized field in theatre studies. Some historical studies focus entirely on biographical approaches when prominent actors, dramatists, directors have engaged in amateur theatricals.

More recently, many attempts have been made to increase research on amateur theatre in Europe and worldwide widening the scope of research on historiographical and also contemporary amateur theatre practice. The below list is following the geographical focus of research, indicating also research with international and transnational research focus. Publications are listed under "Literature".

Research projects

Germany

HeimatWeltBühne. Amateurtheater in periphären Räumen Ostdeutschlands (2019-2023) (Home country - World - Stage. Amateur Theatre in Marginal Spaces of Eastern Germany)

The project was funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research, it was led by Günther Heeg (University of Leipzig). The project investigated the practices of six amateur theatres and cultural centres in Brandenburg and Saxony. The research aim was to understand their role as a mediator of transcultural education in rural areas. The concepts of "Heimat" ("home country"), "Welt" ("world") and "Bühne" ("stage") were central to understand the different levels of the relation of amateur theatricals to society. Günther Heeg's book Fremde spielen. Materialien zur Geschichte von Amateurtheater (Uckerland, Schibri-Verlag 2020) was a basis to the research.

Switzerland

Femmes "en société". Rôles et importance des femmes dans l'émergence et la création des spectacles de société (2021-2022) (Women in "Society". The roles and relevance of women in the origin and development of "société" performances)

The project led by Valentina Ponzetto (University of Lausanne) was funded by the Swiss National Funds for Research. The project aimed to make visible the numerous women that were active in theatre of society from 18th to 19th century. In this frame they found a favorable terrain to express and develop their creativity.

Théâtres de Société. Entre Lumières et Second Empire (2016-2021) (Theatre of Society Between Enlightenment and the Second Empire)

The project led by Valentina Ponzetto (University of Lausanne) was funded by the Swiss National Funds for Research. The theatre of society was a non-commercial amateur theatre practiced in private or semi-private spaces. The project studied dramaturgical and aesthetical aspects of this amateur theatre by drawing on largely under-studied and little known archival sources. Particular practices of mise-en-scène, the material organization of such theatre and its social and political dimension were in the research focus. Two collected volumes resulted from the research: Espace de théâtre de société. Définitions, enjeux, posterité (Presses Universitaires de Rennes 2020), edited by Valentina Ponzetto, Jennifer Ruimi and Christophe Schuwey; and Théâtre et société. Réseaux de sociabilité et représentations de la société (Etudes de lettres, 2022), edited by Valentina Ponzetto and Jennifer Ruimi.

United Kingdom

Amateur Dramatics. Crafting Communities in Time and Space (2013-2017)

This AHRC funded project provided the first major study on contemporary amateur dramatics in the UK. Principle investigator was Helen Nicholson from Royal Holloway, University of London. She collaborated with Jane Milling (University of Exeter) and Nadine Holdsworth (University of Warwick). The aim of the research project was to bring Amateur theatre's active place in the social and cultural life of many communities into the centre of investigation, despite receiving little intervention from funding councils, charities, local authorities and professional theatre. The project was conducted with and by members of amateur dramatic companies, who shared their insights and local knowledge. It resulted in the book Ecologies of Amateur Theatre (Palgrave Macmillan 2018), co-authored by the three investigators.

Transnational Projects

Performing Citizenship. Social and Political Agency in Non-Professional Theatre Practice in Germany, France, Britain, Sweden and Switzerland (1780-1850) (2022-2026)

This is the first project to be funded by the European Research Council which makes clear that between 1780 and 1850 amateur theatre played a significant role in the shaping of European societies, cultures and identities. The project proposes the thesis that European amateur theatre in Germany, France, Britain, Sweden and Switzerland had a vital role in the formation of modern concepts of citizenship. Principal Investigator is Meike Wagner (LMU Munich), she collaborates with David Coates (University of Warwick) and Maria Gullstam (LMU Munich).

Platforms, Networks, Data Bases

Research on Amateur Performance and Private Theatricals (RAPPT, platform)

RAPPT is an international interdisciplinary network of Researchers working on Amateur Performance and Private Theatricals from a variety of angles; this site encourages contributions from and collaborations between all those interested in nonprofessional performance: theatre historians, musicologists, literature scholars, practitioners, digital humanists, etc.

Théâtre de Société: Rayonnement du répertoire français entre 1700 et 1799 (data base) (Theatre of Society: Dissemination of the French Repertoire between 1700 and 1799)

This list aims to provide insights into the French theatres of society between 1700 and 1799. By putting emphasis on the specific location of these private theatricals, the people involved in performances, the milieus they came from, and other traces of their theatrical activity it is possible to reconstruct an image of this collective theatrical practice in the age of Enlightenment.

Literature

Alexander, Felix, “Die nebenberuflichen Theatergesellschaften in Deutschland”, in Schmollers Jahrbuch für Gesetzgebung, Verwaltung und Volkswirtschaft im Deutschen Reich 37:2:1913, hg. von Gustav Schmoller, 1-62.
Becker, Tobias, “Entertaining the Empire. Theatrical Touring Companies and Amateur Dramatics in Colonial India”, in The Historical Journal 57:3:2014, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 699-725.
Bosse, Heinrich, “Das Liebhabertheater als Pappkamerad. Der Krieg gegen die Halbheit und die ‘Greuel des Dilettantismus’”, in Dilettantismus um 1800, Heidelberg: Winter, 2007, 69-90.
Claretie, Léo, Histoire des théâtres de société. Paris: Librairie Molière, 1905.
Cochrane, Claire, “The Pervasiveness of the Commonplace. The Historian and Amateur Theatre”, in Theatre Research International, 26:3:2001, 233-242.
Cramér, Carl, Amatörteater i Sverige, Malmö: Svenska Kulturförlaget, 1952.
Dobson, Michael, Shakespeare and Amateur Performance, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011.
Espaces des théâtres de société. Définitions, enjeux, postérité, ed. par Valentina Ponzetto, Jennifer Ruimi, Christophe Schuwey, Rennes: Presses Universitaire de Rennes, 2020.
Fremde spielen. Materialien zur Geschichte von Amateurtheater, hg. von Claudius Baisch, Henrike Schmidt, Dana Soub, Uckerland: Schibri-Verlag, 2020.
Hesselmann, Peter, “‘Bühnen im Taschenformat’. Zur Theorie und Praxis der Gesellschaftstheater im letzten Viertel des 18. Jahrhunderts”, in Theater im Kulturwandel des 18. Jahrhunderts, hg. Erika Fischer-Lichte und Jörg Schönert, Göttingen: Wallstein, 1999, 503-520.
Le Théâtre des amateurs et l’expériecne de l’art. Accompagnement et autonomie, ed. par Marie Christine Bordeaux, Jean Caune, Marie-Madeleine Mervant-Roux, Paris: L’Entretemps, 2011.
Les théâtres de société au XVIIIe siècle, ed. par Marie-Emmanuelle Plagnol-Diéval et Dominique Quéro. Bruxelles: Editions de l'Université de Bruxelles, 2005.
Mackerras, Colin, Amateur Theatre in China 1949-1966, Canberra: Contemporary China Centre, 1973.
Nicholson, Helen, Nadine Holsworth, Jane Milling: The Ecologies of Amateur Theatre, Basingstoke: Palgrave, 2018.
Plagnol-Diéval, Marie-Emmanuelle, Le théâtre de société : un autre théâtre? Paris: H. Champion , 2003.
Rüppel, Michael, “Das Bremer Gesellschaftstheater des Freiherrn Knigge 1791/92”, in Bremisches Jahrbuch74/75 (1995/96), 107-133.
Schmidt, Yvonne, Ausweitung der Spielzone : Experten, Amateure, behinderte Darsteller im Gegenwartstheater, Zürich: Chronos, 2020.
Tréteaux et paravents. Le théâtre de société au XIX^e siècle, ed. par Jean-Claude Yon et Nathalie Le Gonidec, Grâne: Créaphis, 2012.
Ullmann, Walter, Adolph Müllner und das Weißenfelser Liebhabertheater, Berlin: Selbstverlag der Gesellschaft frü Theatergeschichte, 1934.
Wagner, Meike, “Das Spiel der Liebhaber. Ästhetische Bildung im bürgerlichen Amateur-Schauspiel” in Forum Modernes Theater, 1:2020, 7-25.
Wagner, Meike, “‘Schöpferin glücklicher Stunden…’ – Utopische Spielräume von Amateur-Schauspielerinnen nach 1800”, in Forum Modernes Theater, 1-2:2022, 177-190.