Performing Resistance: the role of theatre and performance in 21st-century workers' movements

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Theatre has been used as a tool for agitation and organisation in workers' movements for centuries, while movement activists have rehearsed, choreographed, and performed protests and direct-action tactics to achieve their political goals. Previous research has suggested that these strategies can be effective, and, in fact, that rather than an add-on or afterthought to political organising, performance is integral to the articulation and function of workers' movements. There is also evidence to suggest that as well as having an impact on specific campaigns, performance can help a movement cohere and endure, by generating ideas, feelings, and shared activities to build a collective consciousness and a way of life. However, while a vibrant body of research on performance-activism has accumulated in recent years, so far, no in-depth examination exists as to how this pertains to contemporary workers' movements, specifically. There is also a disconnect between recent analyses of performance-activism and historical research on performance-based approaches of organised labour movements of the 20th century. This is despite the international labour movement continuing to evolve in challenging 21st-century contexts, whose activists acknowledge the significance of the creative legacies of their political predecessors on current campaigns. This study starts with the hypothesis that to gain a holistic understanding of how performance operates in the current political sphere, one must attend to these connections. Specifically, it examines how performance is currently deployed by labour movement activists in the form of agitprop theatre, direct-action tactics, and as a mode of political organisation, taking into account the historical lineage of specific approaches. The Fellowship will provide me with the time, mentorship, and development opportunities I need to build on my prior work with trade unions and theatre-makers to develop this cutting-edge research agenda and solidify my position as an expert on labour movement culture. As well as examining significant protests and performances that have not yet received academic attention, I will bring to light underused and, until now, undiscovered archives, including personal and public collections. Project partners and an international advisory board are in place to support this activity and the development of a collaborative theory of performance in workers' movements that will challenge existing knowledge by centring the aims and expertise of those who produce it. A programme of activist-led workshops will illuminate how performance is folded into the day-to-day activity of groups working in the UK, Brazil, and India, pilot innovative research methods, and generate new knowledge and materials to build awareness of performance as it is harnessed for social justice. The workshops also have the potential to catalyse new practice in the field, and to influence labour movement policy. Further training and support will enable me to create activities and resources to deepen disciplinary engagement with key themes, encourage cross-disciplinary exchange between scholars of theatre and performance, art and labour movement history, and political and social movement theory, and facilitate the engagement of people from various backgrounds with materials, practices, and debates. These resources include an academic monograph, a purpose-built, open-source archive, and a Teaching Enrichment Workshop for sixth-form students developed through the University of Exeter's Widening Participation programme. I will gain leadership and management skills through the supervision of the PDRF, an activist-practitioner whose peer-reviewed article for a leading journal will make an important intervention in the field. The Fellowship acts as a launchpad into the next phase of our careers while creating an indispensable resource to increase access to and understanding of working class and activist culture.