Mapping performance culture: Nottingham 1857-1867

This project investigates the performance culture of Nottingham, 1857-1867. In a key collaboration between theatre history and geographical information science it will develop an intuitive interactive map and research database, which will layer social, cultural and economic data onto a spatial representation of the town. In doing so, the research seeks to recuperate as far as possible the social and cultural landscape through which the spectators of performance in Nottingham moved on their way to the theatre, lecture rooms, or the town’s Goose Fair, enabling the researchers to bring new methodologies to researching the interrelationships of both repertoire and spectatorship.

While mapping as a metaphor is increasingly frequently called upon by literary studies, this project’s partnership with geography makes that metaphor tangible and workable, enabling us to integrate new technologies to empower the theatre historian with a rich interactive environment to support analysis. As questions of space and proximity are central to the choice making processes of both venue managers and potential spectators, the creation of a resource that organises spatial and socio-economic information about the town breaks new ground for theatre research. How can we create and refine new technologies utilising concepts and techniques central to Geographical Information Systems (GIS) which allow users to see and explore patterns in performance culture in both space and time within the context of the social culture of the town? What insights does such new technology offer theatre history and historiography?