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Chapter 6 - The Fringe

The Rise and Fall of Radical Alternative Theatre

from Part II - Theatre Sectors

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2024

Jen Harvie
Affiliation:
Queen Mary University of London
Dan Rebellato
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway, University of London
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Summary

The various names given to the new theatre movement that emerged in the 1960s to challenge both the West End and the new subsidised theatre sector include ‘fringe’, ‘alternative’, and ‘underground’; each offers different aesthetic, social, political, and other definitions of what this theatre movement means. This chapter traces the modern precursors of the movement and the cultural forces that fed into its concerns, forms, and methods, before examining three companies as case studies: Portable Theatre, the Pip Simmons Group, and Monstrous Regiment. Through close analysis of each company’s history, the chapter explore some key features of the fringe that would contribute to its strength but also its vulnerability: its relationship to the mainstream, its collective ethic, and its experience of arts subsidy. Focusing on the period from the mid-sixties to the mid-eighties (perhaps the first wave of the fringe), the chapter asks how far the movement succeeded, whether its radicalism was absorbed by the mainstream or quashed, what contributed to its arguable decline, and what is left today of its legacy of political engagement, artistic experimentation, and much more.

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • The Fringe
  • Edited by Jen Harvie, Queen Mary University of London, Dan Rebellato, Royal Holloway, University of London
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to British Theatre since 1945
  • Online publication: 14 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108377850.010
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  • The Fringe
  • Edited by Jen Harvie, Queen Mary University of London, Dan Rebellato, Royal Holloway, University of London
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to British Theatre since 1945
  • Online publication: 14 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108377850.010
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • The Fringe
  • Edited by Jen Harvie, Queen Mary University of London, Dan Rebellato, Royal Holloway, University of London
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to British Theatre since 1945
  • Online publication: 14 March 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781108377850.010
Available formats
×