This interdisciplinary project (previous title: 'Focus on Theatre with Non-professional Performers') looks at the use of non-professional performers in spoken theatre in Switzerland. The focus is on artistic and economic aspects of theatre, as well as those involving culture policy.
The management (in terms of artistic and organisational/administrative issues) of open-air theatre in German-speaking Switzerland has become increasingly professional in the last 10 to 15 years. Performances are generating enormous interest from the public and are therefore of economic importance to the regions concerned. At the same time, the last three to four years have seen a rise in productions involving non-professional performers – even in the highly institutionalised world of the theatre – which are attracting attention from the public and the media. Of course, productions performed on the professional stage benefit from public funding, while projects involving open-air theatre have so far only benefited in a few cantons. This question of how culture policy values theatre involving non-professional performers is very much a live one on the back of discussions surrounding the Federal Act on the Promotion of Culture, the ratification of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, and the impetus provided by the Pro Helvetia programme known as 'echoes – tomorrow's popular culture'. The research project describes the changing attitudes in terms of both cultural policy and funding in actual practice and produces models for promoting theatre involving non-professional performers.
The main focus of the research project is on three aspects:
- From an artistic perspective, the evaluation of specific features of acting and what the contribution made by non-professional performers actually consists of.
- From an economic perspective, the tangible and non-tangible effects of major open-air productions on the regional economy.
- From a culture policy perspective, equality of treatment in terms of funding policy for professional theatres and (open-air) theatres involving non-professional performers.