The Great Austerity Debate

Forum Theatre Project 2016-2018

Collaborators: Professor Mia Gray & Professor Susan Smith, Dept. of Geography, University of Cambridge

National Tour: Oct-Nov 2018

Pilot Tour: October 2016

Director, Writer and Forum ‘Joker’: Patrick Morris

Cast 2018: Caroline Rippin, Neal Craig, Hayley Wareham

Production Manager: Ashley Day

Assistant Stage Manager: Myah Morris-Drake

The Great Austerity Debate is an interactive forum theatre project, following the story of Megan K. as she juggles low-paid work, ever-deeper debt, two kids and a fancy new red handbag.

Our collaborators, Mia Gray and Susan Smith, write about austerity at the local level, personal debt, and the role of housing markets in increasing inequality.

The forum style invites creative audience participation. Every audience brings new responses, new interventions and new endings, making each performance unique.

We toured for one week in the pilot and for six weeks in the national tour, playing mainly non-theatre venues such as community centres, church halls and libraries.

Here is a link to our Qualitative Impact report about the project.

Here’s a film from the pilot project, October-November 2016.

Here’s a couple of responses from audience members in Shirebrook, Derbyshire.

Our 2018 tour was made possible by a grant from Arts Council England. We also worked in partnership with a number of organisations, including: Junction Arts in Chesterfield, Spot-On Touring in the North-West, Eastern Angles and Storey’s Field Community Centre in our own region. Further support for the tour came from Bolsover District Council, West Suffolk District Council and the University of Cambridge.

All stills photography by Andrew Wilkinson www.andrewwilkinsonphotography.com