Past Events
- The Institute of Ideas and Greenwich Theatre present:
- Where Is the Real Opposition?
- The arts and media: a new home for politics?
- Venue: Greenwich Theatre, Crooms Hill, Greenwich, London SE10
- Date: April 14, 2005
- Time: 8pm
- Tickets: £8 (£5 concs)
- Booking: Call Greenwich Theatre on 020 8858 7755
Parliamentary politics seems increasingly irrelevant and dull, and there is little excitement about the impending general election, but does this mean the public is hopelessly apathetic? Increasingly, others seem to be occupying the ground where politicians fear to tread. The media have been hailed as the new opposition, with the Today programme taking on the government over Iraq, for example. Theatres feature plays about the war on terror, the transport system and education, attracting large audiences and provoking intense debate. Satire on TV and on the comedy circuit seems more scathing than questions in the House. Important issues neglected by mainstream politics are explored in the cultural sphere.
Do the arts and media offer a viable new home for critical engagement, or does this reduce politics to a product to be consumed by passive audiences? Can the creative energy of the arts inspire a new kind of politics? If culture is the new home of politics, why do the media continue to devote so much attention to the electoral antics of the political parties?
Panel:
- Emma B
- BBC Radio I DJ and member of the Power Commission
- Van Badham
- playwright, feminist and political activist
- Dolan Cummings
- Institute of Ideas, editor, Culture Wars
- David Edgar
- playwright and commentator
- Andrew Gilligan
- journalist
- Blake Morrison
- author, poet, librettist and columnist
- Claire Fox
- director, Institute of Ideas