Looking Backwards: the Establishment of Theatre Studies at Warwick (1975-1986)

Written by Emeritus Prof. Margaret Shewring and Emeritus Reader Gerry Cousin

Some brief facts (1975–86)

The Department of Theatre Studies was created in 1975 and Michael Booth, an established scholar of nineteenth-century theatre history moved from Canada to England to become its founding professor and chair. He was joined in 1976 by Richard Beacham and Clive Barker and, within the next two years, by Geraldine (Gerry) Cousin (1977) and Margaret Shewring (1978). This small team included theatre historians and practitioners.

Michael Booth was part of the committee that planned and developed Warwick Arts Centre – itself part of the pattern emerging in regional theatres for the establishment of a studio performance space as well as a main auditorium. A strong relationship grew between the Department of Theatre and Warwick Arts Centre. The performances developed as part of the department’s undergraduate programme were often presented in Warwick Arts Centre’s studio and students used the various spaces for student society activities

Michael Booth retired from Warwick in 1984. He was followed as departmental chair by Ronnie Mulryne for two transitional years, before David Thomas came to Warwick from Bristol in 1986. Michael died in 2017 – and Jim Davis held a conference in Venice in June 2018 dedicated to his memory

The shape of the early Theatre Studies programme

When Theatre Studies began in Warwick, theatre and drama were not formally part of the curriculum in most schools. As a result, we taught an overview of theatre history and criticism from the Greeks to the present as well as core modules on European Experimental and Innovative Theatre from 1880, on the Director and the Stage and on major theatre practitioners. We embedded visits to a wide range of theatres and other performance spaces into our course. We set up a joint degree with English and Comparative Literature as well as with French and Italian. We also collaborated with the department of Education (at undergraduate level), with Renaissance Studies (developing MA programmes and supervising doctoral research) and with the Arts Faculty’s establishment of the European Humanities Research Centre (now the Humanities Research Centre). We built links with the Royal Shakespeare Company and with the Theatre in Education (TIE) work at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry as well as with the BBC at Pebble Mill in Birmingham, particularly with the radio drama team and their sound workshop. We helped to develop the growing body of published work on theatre as a discipline, playhouses, practitioners, and plays in performance, as well as on the training of actors. Our staff edited, and contributed to, journals including Theatre Notebook and Theatre Quarterly, and actively developed the making of audiovisual resources.

One of the characteristics that made our courses and modules distinctive was the emphasis on Theatre Studies. Only Royal Holloway had a similar approach. Other departments included Drama in their titles. Our aim was not to teach theatre performance but to use performance as a tool in the process of understanding both plays and the creative means by which plays were brought to life.

Undergraduate student numbers for single honours Theatre Studies grew from around 12 to 20, numbers were soon matched by the English/Theatre Studies course (usually recruiting 16 to 18 students), with smaller numbers of students from French and Italian. Initially our Theatre Studies numbers included mature students from the surrounding area. This attention to local outreach was to develop into a 2+2 programme in which the first year was a transitional access year for people in colleges of further education. Members of the department contributed to summer schools in Warwick and in Edinburgh.

Relatively small numbers of postgraduates came to study for MAs by research and PhDs during this time and it was some years before we developed a taught MA in the Department.

Survival

One of our biggest hurdles was the intervention of the UGC (Universities Grants Council) in 1986. This intervention was to control the development of universities and to rationalise the spread of courses, especially in the Humanities. As for theatre and drama, polytechnics and drama schools included practical theatre: why did universities need to do something similar? With out colleagues in the Standing Conference for University Drama Departments (SCUDD – now Drama HE) – all university theatre and drama departments mounted a defence of their discipline. David Thomas and Margaret Shewring were two of the six academics who went to make the case; fortunately, its merits were recognised.

Moving On

As schools increasingly included drama in their formal curriculum we reshaped, and continue to reshape, our offering to build on the formal and informal experiences that our students brought – and now bring with them.

Images:

Cover: UWA/Photos/IV.B.4/1 Ros Merkin, Tracie Gilman, Phil Jones and Eric Maclennan with Kea Worvers in front in a performance of Caryl Churchill's 'Light Shining in Buckinghamshire' 28/29 April 1983 (course work for Theatre Studies, performed on the Westwood campus) in the Modern Records Centre.

Top left: UWA/Photos/VI.B/1/417 Dr Margaret Shewring and Professor Ronnie Mulryne with their book 'Making Space for Theatre'. 1995. Modern Records Centre.

Top right: UWA/Photos/IV.A.1/3/19 Paul Storcus and Ruth Jones (3rd Year Theatre Studies Students) in 'Casina' by Plautus (Latin slapstick revived after 22 centuries) 1990. Photo by Huw Evans. Modern Records Centre.

Theatre Studies at Warwick 1986 to 2004

Written by Emeritus Prof. David Thomas

In her account of the early history of the Department, Margaret Shewring mentions the threat of funding cuts by the UGC in 1986. As President of the national body representing all Departments of Drama and Theatre in Britain, I drew together a document which set out our importance as a discipline and our achievements. I was very ably assisted in this task by Margaret who was the Secretary of the national body. We persuaded the UGC, on the evidence we presented, to leave unscathed the discipline of Theatre and Drama studies in British universities.

Immediately afterwards, I was appointed Professor of Theatre Studies at Warwick. This was one of the departments that had faced possible closure. During the 18 years when I was Head of Department, my colleagues and I built an exceptional department which was formally recognised, by peer review, as the leading Department of Theatre and Drama in the country. All teaching was led and inspired by the many different research interests of our staff members, who wrote or edited numerous important studies of Theatre and Performance in many different periods. This was equally true of practical studies, led by Nick Kaye. These were based on post-modern theory and practice and involved the presentation of devised, multi-media pieces in our superbly equipped new studio. (After his stay in Warwick, Nick was appointed Professor of Drama and Performance, first at Manchester, and then Exeter, where he also became Deputy Vice-Chancellor.) An innovative approach to theatre history research was pursued by Richard Beacham. With the help of a dedicated IT technical team, he developed 3D computer models of ancient theatre spaces. The resulting 3D models were a superb teaching resource and an excellent tool for investigative research. (Richard was later appointed professorial founding director of the King’s Visualisation Lab at King’s College, London.) Other practical presentations based on research led to many small and large-scale performances in the Arts Centre. Finally, classes on Theatre in the Community, once again informed by research, led to a wide range of community-based projects in Coventry.

In 1992, the University asked us to incorporate within the Department a Centre for Cultural Policy and Administration led by Oliver Bennett. This greatly enhanced the study choices (notably in Arts marketing) which were available to undergraduate as well as postgraduate students. This unique and exceptional Centre has since grown in size and importance and has acquired its own status, separate from Theatre and Performance Studies, as the Centre for Cultural and Media Policy Studies.

In 1996, our work (as that of all other departments) was subject to a lengthy and thorough investigation by expert staff from other universities. The aim was to assess the quality of our teaching and research. We emerged from this intensive exercise as the only Department of Theatre and Drama in Britain in which both teaching and research were deemed to be of outstanding quality. In addition, we were listed as the leading Department of Drama and Theatre in various Good University guides published in the press. This naturally meant that Theatre Studies at Warwick would continue to be attractive to the kind of lively and committed students who have always enriched our life and work as an academic community. For all staff and students, the study and practice of theatre and performance involves an enormous amount of serious hard work, combined with considerable real enjoyment.