Breaking the Boundaries: The People Show, Lumiere & Son and Hesitate and Demonstrate

Abstract

Neglected by British theatre critics and largely unknown to American audiences, The People Show [Photo 8], Lumiere & Son and Hesitate and Demonstrate have produced some of the most significant work seen on British stages during the past twenty-five years. Their particular form of performance, which challenges the role of text in production in order to explore the potential of theatrical imagery, is unique in context with most of British theatre which can be characterized in terms of its strong literary bias. Referred to variously as ‘performance art’, ‘theatre’ or simply as ‘performance theatre’, the work of these three companies has played a crucial role in the development of the British alternative theatre movement since the 1960s. During the 1980s and early 1990s, when drastic cuts in arts funding by the Thatcher administration resulted in the demise of countless fringe groups, the innovative work of The People Show, Lumiere & Son and Hesitate and Demonstrate has largely continued to flourish.