Presented by David Coates

Amateur theatre is flourishing in twenty-first century Britain, and indisputably contributes significantly to our theatrical landscape. However, it’s only very recently that theatre academics and historians have recognised the need for a greater understanding of the amateur theatre of today and of the past.

This lecture will pull together material from over six years of research to take you on a whistle-stop tour of amateur theatre in the nineteenth century. We’ll stop to take in the sights and sounds of aristocratic country houses, Oxford and Cambridge Universities, Literary and Mechanics Institutes, clubs and societies, and Charles Dickens’s amateur company. But it’s not all just for fun. A politician’s whistle-stop tour always has a message or two for those who turn out to hear it.

David Coates is a part-time PhD candidate at the University of Warwick, writing up his thesis on private and amateur theatricals in the long nineteenth century. David is passionate about the STR and joined the Executive Committee in 2012 to found the New Researchers’ Network. David is also a member of TaPRA and IFTR, and in 2014 was the Administrator for the IFTR Warwick World Congress. Alongside David’s PhD, he works in Programming and Business Development at Warwick Arts Centre.