ABSTRACT

This article approaches the idea of architecture, theatre and cultural democracy as relational concepts, and considers the theatre building as a cultural artefact which both manifests and embodies power relations. We use the case study of Liverpool’s PurpleDoor to explore this idea. We consider theatre buildings as cultural artefacts to focus attention on the impact of material or physical factors and the power of cultural institutions to orient specific forms of behaviour and activity around themselves. In seeing architectural design as an embodiment of politics, philosophy and cultural policy, the article considers both the practical and theoretical dimensions of the future of a theatre architecture concerned with cultural democracy. The interconnection between political ideas of theatre’s contemporary social role and the material construction of the building – the performative nature of the performance space – become vital in recognising and re-prioritising values designed to address the intersectional nature of power systems afflicting the cultural sector and enabling citizen usage of cultural space. The article situates PurpleDoor in an historical lineage which articulates the aspiration to become both a site for critical inquiry and a contemporary manifestation of cultural democracy for 21^st century British theatre.

摘要

本文将建筑、剧院和文化民主的概念作为关系概念来处理，并将剧院建筑视为一种文化制品，既体现又体现了权力关系。我们使用利物浦 PurpleDoor 的案例研究来探索这个想法。我们将剧院建筑视为文化艺术品，以关注物质或物理因素的影响以及文化机构引导特定形式的行为和活动围绕自身的力量。在将建筑设计视为政治、哲学和文化政策的体现时，本文考虑了与文化民主有关的剧院建筑未来的实践和理论层面。表演空间的表演性质——对于识别和重新确定旨在解决影响文化部门的电力系统的交叉性质和使公民能够使用文化空间的价值观至关重要。这篇文章将 PurpleDoor 置于一个历史血统中，它表达了成为 21 世纪英国剧院的批判性调查场所和文化民主的当代表现的^愿望。