The Institutional Persona: When Theatres Become Personas and the Case of Bristol Old Vic

Kirsty Sedgman

doi:10.21153/psj2019vol5no2art915

Authors

Kirsty Sedgman University of Bristol, UK

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.21153/psj2019vol5no2art915

Keywords:

live performance, audience, cultural value, The Archive, reputation, composite persona

Abstract

This article proposes a definition and terminology for identifying and analysing a concept of institutional persona in relation to theatre. The essay posits the theatre institution as an example of a ‘composite persona’, whereby cultural value is produced through the interplay between theatre as building, theatre as organisation, and theatre as event. Using the case-study of Bristol Old Vic, I examine how executives and practitioners involved in a specific historic theatre ensured its post-war survival in the 1940s by connecting the prestigious heritage of a local landmark with the national reputation of two London-based organisations. I suggest that theatre institutions offer a particularly rich investigative ground for the application of persona study theory in their need to mobilise individual and organisational personas for the purposes of reinventing a ‘good story’ and brand over time.

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Author Biography

Kirsty Sedgman, University of Bristol, UK

Kirsty Sedgman is Lecturer in Theatre at the University of Bristol. She specialises in studying theatre audiences in relation to experience, community, fandom, and response. Her research has been published in two monographs: Locating the Audience: How People Found Value in National Theatre Wales (2016, Intellect) and The Reasonable Audience: Theatre Etiquette, Behaviour Policing, and the Live Performance Experience (2018, Palgrave). Kirsty would like to acknowledge the support of the British Academy’s Postdoctoral Research Fellowship scheme which has funded her work on regional theatre audience engagement.

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