Special Issue: Theatre, Performance, and the Amateur Turn
Edited by Nadine Holdsworth, Jane Milling & Helen Nicholson
This special issue brings together research that examines amateurism as a cultural practice and as an aesthetic strategy, engaging with questions of shared experiences and sociability; everyday creativity; practical tools, skills, and volunteer labour; cultural legitimacy and value; and amateurism as a contested site of failure.

This issue of Interventions extends some of the ideas and practices behind this quarter’s special issue on ‘Theatre, Performance and the Amateur Turn’.

‘Evocative Objects’ collects the stories and memories behind objects brought by amateur theatre-makers to research workshops.

Nadine Holdsworth interviews 81-year-old Arthur Aldridge about a career that has moved between amateur theatre and the West End.

This slideshow of archival and contemporary images offers a guided tour of amateur theatre in the Royal Navy.

Drawing on interviews and ethnographic research, Molly Flynn reflects on the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Open Stages initiative that involved over 300 amateur theatre companies.