Vernacular Theatre

Between 1989 and 2020 Jonathan Petherbridge worked as the Artistic Director of a community-based theatre company - London Bubble. This longer than average tenure allowed him time to forge a close working relationship with the community and develop new ways to involve people of all ages in theatre-making.
Out of a slew of projects emerged a particular methodology to make work that was researched, curated and performed by citizens between the ages of 8 and 80. The process that emerged was called Foraging - a methodology carefully divided into five phases, which attempts to bring the best out of both voluntary and specialist artists - making time and space for them to create theatre that has a striking beauty and an ingrained aesthetic of care. Vernacular Theatre describes the result - the aesthetic.
The case studies - based on work with citizens of London and Hiroshima - examine how this theatre has valued key moments of communal history, contemporary issues and everyday institutions. The book suggests reasons and techniques for others to make similar work. Concluding with a reflection on the pre-classical Chorus of Greek Theatre where original work was produced to celebrate events with and for the community, this book proposes a new genre - a social and intergenerational art form that invites people to gather and share their life experience, concerns and creativity.

Jonathan Petherbridge has been making theatre within community for over forty-years and has seen the context change radically - and his practice has changed with it. He has run building-based theatres, pioneered outdoor promenade theatre and developed methodologies to work with different age groups and collectively, across generations.