A Thesis Submitted for the Degree of PhD at the University of Warwick Permanent WRAP URL: http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/80890 Copyright and reuse: This thesis is made available online and is protected by original copyright. Please scroll down to view the document itself. Please refer to the repository record for this item for information to help you to cite it. Our policy information is available from the repository home page. For more information, please contact the WRAP Team at: [email protected] warwick.ac.uk/lib-publications ‘Our place': class, the theatre audience and the Royal Court Liverpool Maria Barrett Submitted in partial fulfilment of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy University of Warwick, Centre for Cultural Policy Studies and Theatre Studies June 2016 Maria Barrett Page 3 PhD Thesis: June 2016 Table of Contents List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... 10 List of Tables .......................................................................................................................... 11 Abstract .................................................................................................................................. 13 Chapter 1 Prologue: an introduction to the thesis ................................................................ 14 Class ................................................................................................................................... 21 What is class? ................................................................................................................. 22 Decline of the discussion of class ................................................................................... 25 Resurgence ..................................................................................................................... 27 Existing research on theatre audiences – and on audiences and class ........................... 29 Value of Study/Original contribution to knowledge .......................................................... 35 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 36 Chapter 2. Methods ............................................................................................................... 39 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 39 Field visits and thick descriptions ...................................................................................... 40 Season selected .............................................................................................................. 41 Photographic record ...................................................................................................... 47 Qualitative research ........................................................................................................... 48 Recruitment of Research Participants ........................................................................... 48 Recruitment: The Choir .................................................................................................. 50 Venue for focus groups .................................................................................................. 51 Interviews ....................................................................................................................... 52 Maria Barrett Page 4 PhD Thesis: June 2016 Questions ....................................................................................................................... 52 Process for and issues with focus groups ...................................................................... 53 Recording ....................................................................................................................... 54 Function and constituency of ethnographic research participants ............................... 54 Issues with the Choir as a sampling frame ..................................................................... 55 ‘Expert’ interview ............................................................................................................... 56 Methods of analysis ........................................................................................................... 56 TripAdvisor ......................................................................................................................... 57 TripAdvisor data analysis ............................................................................................... 59 Conclusion .......................................................................................................................... 60 Chapter 3. The Royal Court Theatre, Liverpool: A contextual history ................................... 61 Introduction ....................................................................................................................... 61 1825-1840: ‘Hippodrama’, circus and spectacle ................................................................ 66 1840-1881 Legitimate Drama ............................................................................................ 78 1881-1938: The first Royal Court Theatre ......................................................................... 85 The interwar years ............................................................................................................. 89 1938-1979: The second Royal Court: opulence and gentility ............................................ 91 War and post war ............................................................................................................... 94 1960-1979: Marginalisation ............................................................................................... 96 1979-2005: Liverpool’s rock and roll theatre................................................................... 100 2005-present day: Scouse Comedy .................................................................................. 107 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................ 108 Maria Barrett Page 5 PhD Thesis: June 2016 Chapter 4. The theatre in the city: the Royal Court in the field of Liverpool theatre ......... 111 Bourdieu’s concept of field .............................................................................................. 112 The cultural field .............................................................................................................. 113 Constructing and limiting the field .................................................................................. 118 Part 1: Where the boundaries lie ..................................................................................... 119 The commercial and the not-for-profit sectors ........................................................... 119 Local authority venues ................................................................................................. 121 Commercial, not-for-profit and local authority venues in Liverpool ........................... 123 The question of subsidy ................................................................................................... 124 Receiving and producing houses ..................................................................................... 125 Repertoire and run cycle .............................................................................................. 126 The Empire and The Echo Arena: ‘uncomplicated pleasure’ and ‘something for everyone’ ..................................................................................................................... 126 The Everyman Playhouse: legitimate theatre .............................................................. 127 Lantern and Unity: experimental work, short runs ..................................................... 128 Epstein: council-eclectic ............................................................................................... 129 Royal Court: ‘a real Liverpool theatre experience’ ...................................................... 130 Part 2: Indicators of ‘specific capital’ ............................................................................... 133 Price of product and size of audience .......................................................................... 134 Audience ‘social quality’ .............................................................................................. 137 The Echo, the Empire and the Epstein: fragmented audiences ................................... 137 The Everyman Playhouse: ‘well-educated professionals’ ............................................ 138 Maria Barrett Page 6 PhD Thesis: June 2016 Unity and Lantern: ‘Young, well-educated city dwellers’ ............................................ 138 The Royal Court: north Liverpool, new to theatre ....................................................... 139 The boundaries and indicators in summary .................................................................... 140 Part 3: The ‘Bank’ of Specific Capital ............................................................................... 142 Behaviour in the field: Strategies of conservation or subversion ................................ 142 History and capital ......................................................................................................