The Development of the Role of the Actor-Musician in Britain by British Directors Since the 1960s

This thesis will investigate the creation and development by two British directors, Glen Walford and Bob Carlton, of the use of the actor-musician in small-scale touring, popular theatre community and subsidised repertory with a strong community base performance practices from 1960 to 2000. It will argue that the actor-musician had been established in touring community theatre companies, where distinctive working methodologies had evolved. Using previously unpublished archive material and new interviews; this is the first dedicated academic study to identify the work of these directors as a distinctive and innovative practice, which has one key strand of musical theatre performance in Britain since the 1960s. It locates this new body of practice in a diverse tradition of socially engaged and politically informed theatre that evolved through times of financial stringency, it will argue nonetheless that the work of these two directors has primarily creative or artistic validity which was driven and underpinned by social and political concern. The thesis will demonstrate that the two directors investigated represent the key line of continuity in the field of actor-musician practice. Each of these directors has worked and continued to work in very distinct styles and contexts and utilised the actor-musician in differing ways. The thesis will employ case studies in order to demonstrate ways in which the potential and range of the actormusician was developed in: classic plays, including Shakespeare reworked and extant musicals; new work that has been specifically conceived and created for actor-musicians. In conclusion it will evaluate the continuing significance of this practice within British musical theatre