Nineteenth-Century Provincial Theatres

Theatre Research has long concentrated on major theatres in metropolitan areas. Smaller theatres in provincial towns have thus escaped the attention of larger studies despite their importance as sociocultural venues and vital places of sociopolitical debate in a time of rapid political change. Being places of information exchange, sociopolitical negotiation and the formation of public opinion, nineteenth-century provincial theatres are engaged with an ongoing local reality reflected in their choice of repertoire and their staging decisions.

The conference focuses on nineteenth-century performances of provincial theatres thematising topical sociopolitical events or debates and contextualises these performances in their local realities. It therefore considers not only theatre pieces themselves, but also forms of theatre organisation, stakeholders involved in programming and staging decisions, performance practices, and the composition of a local public as well as their expectations and reactions. These perspectives allow a reevaluation of provincial theatres as venues that deeply shape as well as mirror sociopolitical reality in provincial towns.
The aim of this encounter is thus a discussion of nineteenth-century practices of provincial theatres, in particular case studies of performances staging topical socio-political events or debates.