Heterotopia, the National Theatre of Scotland, and ‘Theatre without Walls’

Abstract

Heterotopia may be relatively easy to identify in site-specific performance (where the creation of a‘constructed space’ that is a necessary precondition is fundamental to the genre), but it is also an effective interpretational tool in performance that takes place in theatre buildings. Whereas the previous chapter explored performance that spoke directly to a community by situating it amid its social context, bypassing a traditional theatre venue altogether, the remaining chapters present different approaches to possible heterotopias, examining them in various generic, social, and historical contexts. This chapter focuses on the National Theatre of Scotland (NTS), a company that has side-stepped being identified with a specific, flagship theatre building. NTS lives by the motto that it used widely in its early years: ‘Theatre without Walls’.¹ While the company no longer advertises itself this way, it continues to build on this ethos.² The rejection of a fixed venue has enhanced NTS&’s success to the extent that the National Theatre Wales has adopted a version of this model.³