Lloyd Peters
Radical Theory, Diluted Practice?
New writing and performance in an “Age of Austerity”
This presentation aims to focus the debate concerning theory-practice interchange in media production by placing the creation of political writing and performance within the cultural, economic and political context of a reduction in BBC programme-making budgets, UK Arts Council funding cuts and a government committed to reducing public subsidy for the Arts. The presentation will also discuss the centralisation of BBC/ITV commissioning protocols and the issues concerning a recognised decline in TV and Radio plays that deal with difficult, political or experimental drama.
To this end, the presentation will reference the theory-practice relationship that shaped the author’s BBC Radio 4 play Bell in the Ball (transmitted June 2010) and attempt to place the production within the wider political and cultural contexts that governed the commissioning and production process. The presentation will include audio and script extracts from Bell in the Ball.
In conclusion, as the cultural socio-political landscape shifts to the right, the presentation will aim to address assumptions concerning future drama creation, commissioning and presentation and how this might affect the radical potential of theory-practice interchange.