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

Project Information

P-CITIZENS

Grant agreement ID: 101019879

DOI

10.3030/101019879

EC signature date 11 May 2021

Start date 1 January 2022

End date 31 December 2027

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 2 393 750,00

EU contribution

€ 2 393 750,00

Coordinated by

LUDWIG-MAXIMILIANS-UNIVERSITAET MUENCHEN
Germany

Periodic Reporting for period 3 - P-CITIZENS (Performing Citizenship. Social and Political Agency in Non-Professional Theatre Practice in Germany, France, Britain, Sweden and Switzerland (1780-1850))

Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2025-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Amateur theatre played a significant role in the formation of a modern concept of citizenship that emerged during the Enlightenment and took shape during the American and French Revolutions. Around the social activities enacted and texts performed a broad-based movement developed between 1780 and 1850 that, arguably, had more impact than professional theatre which has previously been the almost exclusive focus of theatre studies. In the period, non-professional theatre offered huge educative possibilities for the acquisition of skills and competences deemed essential to becoming a ‘good citizen’. For the first time, a historiographical research project will study European amateur theatre’s impact on social change.

Five different case studies will bring distinct cultural and political contexts into the picture that determined ideas and practices of citizenship as well as theatre: 1) late-absolutist rule in Germany, 2) revolutionary shifts in France, 3) parliamentary rule in Great Britain, 4) reformed monarchy in Sweden, and 5) a contested republic in Switzerland. The study of amateur theatre in these regions will reveal the development of their citizen practices in regard to accessibility and agency, aesthetic education, institutionalisation and professionalization.

Merging performance theory, cultural theory and institutional theory this project will connect the historical formation of citizenship to discourses on performativity and the building of identity through embodied practices. It will also help to foreground the role of non-professional theatre in the shaping of society.

The key objectives of this project are:

[1] to contribute to a historiographic shift by focusing on the ‘doing’ and performativity of theatre practices

[2] to examine how concepts of citizenship emerged around theatre in Germany, France, Britain, Sweden and Switzerland

[3] to analyse how non-professional theatre embraced and further developed concepts that helped to establish a citizen identity

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

In the beginning, the following tasks were performed: project implementation and organization, including the recruitment of staff, and the creation of a project webpage and social media communication channels. All project members undertook thorough archival research, and the main methodological concepts were developed and discussed. This initial phase led to two important scientific publications: "'Schöpferin glücklicher Stunden…' – Utopische Spielräume von Amateur-Schauspielerinnen nach 1800,' in Forum Modernes Theater, Heft 1-2, 2022, 177-190; "On a Praxeology of Theatre History," in Performing the Eighteenth Century. Theatrical Discourses, Practices and Artefacts, ed. by Magnus Tessing Schneider and Meike Wagner, Stockholm University Press, 2023, 21-45.
In addition to the bi-weekly project meetings, five intensive reading and research workshops with the group members and invited guests (scholars, stakeholders, archivists) between 2022 and 2024 fostered the development and refining of the research perspective, theoretical concepts and pragmatic approaches.The PhD students will present their research in the PhD Seminar at LMU in spring 2025.
The project presented first research results at three international collective project panels at the conferences of the International Federation for Theatre Research in Reykjavik (2022) and Manila (2024) and at a research seminar of Sorbonne, Paris (2023).
The launch of the amateur theatre wiki in summer 2023, was a major step in developing the wiki data base and furthering the public dissemination of data on amateur theatre practice.
All individual project members have developed draft chapter and are working on book proposals for publication. The PI will finalize a major book manuscript in September 2024.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The PI will publish her book in 2025. All other project members will present final manuscripts by the end of 2026. Further articles are currently in development for publication.
The final conference of the project "Amateur Acts. Why Amateur Theatre Matters" will take place in Venice from 8 to 10 September 2025. The Call for Papers for this conference has been published, the deadline for submission is 31 October 2024. The project group has already taken contact with potential publishers in order to develop a major collected volume on amateur theatre including a selection of the conference contributions.
The Amateur Theatre Wiki will further develop. With the help of AI technologies, the group will continue to retrieve data on amateur theatre practices around the globe. A further communication strategy will help to substantially enlarge the group of wiki editors. The Venice conference will also be a hub for communicating and disseminating the Amateur Theatre Wiki.

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