Copyright
Paul FarmerPublished On
2023-09-27ISBN
Language
- English
Print Length
282 pages (xii+270)Dimensions
Weight
Media
OCLC Number
1401577408LCCN
2022361355THEMA
- AFKP
- AB
- NHD
- NHTB
BIC
- AN
- AFKP
- WQH
- 1DBKEWC
- J
- JP
- JPR
- 1DBKE
- HBJ
- 3JJP
BISAC
- ART060000
- ART037000
- HIS015070
- HIS054000
LCC
- PN3307.G7
Keywords
- 1980s
- 1990s
- A39
- Cornwall
- history
- miners' strike
- political theatre
- Thatcherism
After the Miners’ Strike
A39 and Cornish Political Theatre versus Thatcher’s Britain: Volume 1
- Paul Farmer (author)
- Rebecca Hillman (preface by)
- Mark Kilburn (author)
Endorsements
Farmer’s account of A39’s experimental political theatre practice in 1984–92 is an original and valuable contribution to the field of theatre and performance studies, especially political theatre history, agitprop, and working-class, socialist theatre. This is the first substantial work to account for the activities of A39 theatre, and one of the only texts looking in depth at political theatre in and about Cornwall. The book offers important food for thought on popular and effective approaches to making political theatre, while discussions of counterculture and left political organisation will be useful in theatre and labour movement studies for filling in details of a history that is currently underrepresented.
Dr Rebecca Hillman
Senior Lecturer, Department of Communications, Drama and Film, University of Exeter
Additional Resources
Contents
Preface
(pp. 1–6)- Rebecca Hillman
Introduction
(pp. 7–10)- Paul Farmer
1. A Tour through the Miners’ Strike
(pp. 11–26)- Paul Farmer
2. Into A39
(pp. 27–36)- Paul Farmer
3. One & All!
(pp. 37–60)- Paul Farmer
4. Street Theatre and Cabaret
(pp. 61–66)- Paul Farmer
5. Touring One & All!
(pp. 67–82)- Paul Farmer
6. A39 International
(pp. 83–90)- Paul Farmer
7. A39 and the Tin Crisis
(pp. 91–94)- Paul Farmer
8. A39 Into 1986: The State of Things
(pp. 95–104)- Paul Farmer
9. Building the New Show
(pp. 105–118)- Paul Farmer
10. ‘How much easier it is to honour the dead than to value the living’—The Tale of Trevithick’s Tower
(pp. 119–134)- Paul Farmer
- Paul Farmer
- Mark Kilburn
12. The Tale of Trevithick’s Tower
(pp. 183–250)- Paul Farmer
- Mark Kilburn
Contributors
Paul Farmer
(author)Paul Farmer first worked in Cornish arts as an actor/musician/bus driver with Miracle Theatre, then co-founded A39 Theatre Group, later becoming artistic director. As a freelance playwright he wrote a number of plays for Kneehigh Theatre Company and for Cornish community events and celebrations. During the mid-late 1990s Farmer was one of those who established the Cornish film industry, as a writer, director and producer. An increasingly experimental film practice would lead to a number of projects exploring digital image work in a literary context. He was a founder member and company manager of the live literature collective Scavel An Gow, then one of the three artists who represented Cornwall in the European Regions of Culture initiative, leading into work in a fine art context in performance, moving image and installation. He holds an Honours degree in Theatre from Dartington College of Arts and a Masters in Fine Art: contemporary practice from University College Falmouth. From 2014 to 2022 he was a lecturer in film and theatre at Falmouth University. In 2000 he was made a Bard of Gorsedh Kernow ‘for services to Cornish arts’.
Rebecca Hillman
(preface by)Rebecca Hillman’s work as Senior Lecturer in the Department of Communications, Drama and Film at the University of Exeter is informed by her involvement with trade unions and political campaign groups. She enjoys teaching her module Activism and Performance to examine with students how social and industrial movements use performance and other cultural forms to make change in the world. Her recent publications explore theatre as a political organising tool, working-class theatre, housing and activism, and collaborative efforts to strengthen links between artists and the labour movement. Rebecca is the Principle Investigator on the AHRC Fellowship Performing Resistance: Theatre and Performance in 21st Century Workers’ Movements. She is writing a book based on some of this work, to be published with Bloomsbury in 2025.
Mark Kilburn
(author)Mark Kilburn was born in Birmingham and lived for a number of years in Scandinavia. Between 1996–98 he was writer in residence at the City Open Theatre, Århus, Denmark, and in 2002 he was awarded a Canongate prize for new fiction. In 2012 he won the ABCtales poetry competition. Subsequent prizes include first place in the Cerasus Poetry Olympics, 2020. His first novel, Hawk Island, was originally published by ElectronPress (currently out of print). His poetry collection, Beautiful Fish, is available from Amazon (print) and Cerasus Poetry (digital). His latest novel, The Castle, set in Falmouth during the English Civil Wars, is available from Amazon in paperback, hardback, and digital editions.