Glitter and Glue: Examining the Role of Participation with Young People at Northern Stage, 1967-2017

Abstract

This thesis focuses on Northern Stage’s engagement with young people from 1967 to 2017 and reveals how this work has played a key role in shaping the identity and values of the organisation and those involved in it. Although Northern Stage is a prominent cultural organisation in the North East, it has received little academic attention to date. My research addresses this gap and positions Northern Stage within the fields of regional theatre history and young people’s participation. Northern Stage has a longer and more important history of participation work with young people than the theatre itself, or the wider research community, has been aware of. This thesis engages with recent scholarship regarding the concept of participation and explores its meaning from the point of view of Northern Stage’s Participation department, its artistic directors, and young people. The thesis provides an analysis of the character and impact of participation at Northern Stage through archival research, interviews with thirty four people (staff, stakeholders, and participants) and observations of five different participation projects. It presents Northern Stage as a pioneer in its work with young people and demonstrates how a strong line of hereditary succession amongst staff has created a powerful, tacit transfer of knowledge. The originality of this study is three-fold: it uncovers new material about the history of one of England’s major regional producing theatres; offers an original use of oral history for the study of participation; and explores practices of participation over a fifty-year period. This approach has value for academics, policy advisors, marketers and practitioners working in the arts. It demonstrates how participation for young people in regional theatre matters to our society in increasingly challenging circumstances.