Pedagogical popular theatre: practice as research into the efficacy of socio-political practices of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries

In this paper I will discusses a series of research through practice projects that were designed to offer a preliminary evaluation of how popular theatre forms might function to 'teach and delight' audiences, as well as make them active in response to issues discussed through the discourse of performance. In doing so, the projects sought to explore a viable model for creating political grassroots theatre in twenty-first-century Britain. Through his analysis of the audience reception statistics collected from the performances, the author is able to propose that the chosen popular theatre forms promise to engage and educate audiences about the issues of concern they explore. However, whilst there is some evidence to suggest that audiences may continue to engage with the issues explored post-performance, the statistics were unable to show audiences committing to any significant forms of political activism. The author subsequently concludes by collating what he sees as the principal benefits of each of the popular forms explored through practice and theorizes their likely impact on audiences and the political issues they try to represent at the present time.