Ladders and Wedges: Challenging Marginalisation in the Dramatic Arts

At the time of writing, fault lines in the creative industries are clearer than they have, arguably, ever been. Who is afforded the ability to be included, to make decisions, to make work, has come into sharp relief; highlighting those who are excluded or at the margins. For those, like me, who have been – or are considered as being – at the margins, this is not a startling discovery. This thesis offers insight and strategies for disrupting marginalisation; offering starting points, evidencing benefits and giving theoretical underpinning for a reversal. These are focalised through three research questions: How can curricula, especially that used in actor training, be diversified and made more inclusive?; Why is representation of identities that are ‘on the margins’ important and how can this inclusion and diversification be sustainably achieved?; How can equitable access to performative work be fostered in its creation and dissemination? Part one comprises nine solo authored, peer reviewed, published research papers. Taking, in the main, an ethnographic approach, these published works encapsulate professional and pedagogical practice with research led conclusions, suggestions and provocations to both training/educational establishments, theatres and theatre (and performance) makers. Part two, the exegesis, offers the rationale for, and coherence of, the published work. In a timeline of significant Benchmarks, my practice, pedagogy and research are mapped against the publication of the submitted papers. The Introduction offers reasons why I am, and have been, the best person to undertake this research, which champions de-marginalisation. Discussion of my lived experience, the reasoning that my research needs to exist, as well as explorations of intersectionality and equality, diversity and inclusivity are set against the context of creating a world that my marginalised 15-year-old self would have hugely benefited from. Pulling it together looks to the methodological basis and conceptions that the published works in part one sit in, develop and are reliant on, offering my methodological praxis, conceptualised as a tripartite. Waymarkers reviews, chronologically, eight works from across disciplines which have been an influence on the published work and give rise to the ‘golden threads’ that thematically bind my work. Asking questions, the lynchpin of the exegesis, through the three research questions, situate my contributions against and in conversation with the waymarkers and recent literature, evidencing the novelty and positive contribution(s) that have been made in, by and through my work. My Conclusions extend the journeying metaphor seen throughout, offering coalescence of my contributions and suggestions of where focus needs to be next placed to create and sustain these much-needed changes. Finally, the Epilogue maps the lineage that my work speaks, and adds, to.