Additional Reading
Starting a Theatre Company
Book commissioned by Routledge and written by myself between 2021-2023. The purpose of the book was to bring together all of the information an aspiring theatre-maker might need to launch and run their own theatre company, without needing to be intimidated by "the business bits." I did not yet have the framing of the Fringe Maker to draw on but this book acts as a form of precursor to this thesis, and is an interesting mid-way point between the original plans for PurpleDoor and the mindset shift as the thesis developed.
Falconer, Karl. 2023. Starting a Theatre Company: How to become a theatre maker and create your own work. London: Routledge.
Included in thesis bundle.
The Stage article
The Stage kindly ran a story on our plans for PurpleDoor. At the time in the midst of pandemic lockdowns, the story went viral on social media which created a much more significant interest than I had anticipated. I was able to recruit our board directly off the back of this story, although in hindsight the excitement of the story's reach certainly encouraged me to consider PurpleDoor further along than it was in reality.
Masso, Giverny. 2020. 'Theatre where all tickets are free to open in Liverpool.' The Stage, 19th August 2020. https://www.thestage.co.uk/news/theatre-where-all-tickets-are-free-to-open-in-liverpool
The Guardian article
The Guardian contacted me as part of a piece they were running, looking at the opening of new venues in and around the pandemic. This is a particularly useful article for highlighting my mindset at the time as framing PurpleDoor as an alternative against an entire system, and it's hardly surprising I was beginning to be placed in the position of leader reading this back. The confidence is also ironic to reflect on at this distance.
Jays, David. 2020. '"Blind Optimism": Who would open a theatre in 2020?' The Guardian, 14th October 2020, https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2020/oct/14/blind-optimism-who-would-open-a-theatre-in-2020
Cultural Democracy
We were really keen for PurpleDoor to be a bridge between practitioners and academics, which is how I first met Steven Hadley and became really influenced by his work on cultural democracy. Myself, Steven and the architect behind PurpleDoor's concept plans Jon Moorhouse, co-authored this paper in 2024. The specifics of PurpleDoor's mission had become somewhat dated by the time of publication but this is a useful further exploration of the materiality question and how we envisaged incorporating this into a more equitable working model.
Hadley, Steven, Karl Falconer and Jon Moorhouse. 2024. 'Building theatre, making policy: materiality and cultural democracy at Liverpool’s PurpleDoor.' Studies in Theatre and Performance 44(2): 345-361 https://doi.org/10.1080/14682761.2022.2121027
This page contains a wealth of background material and writing relating to PurpleDoor and my past work. It is relevant for several reasons - in some cases these writings are referenced within the thesis itself, but in other cases, these writings are helpful snapshots of moments of time, capturing elements of my mindset but also the changing vision of PurpleDoor. Down the left hand side are links to each of these relevant writings, and down the right are a range of materials relating to our first vision of what PurpleDoor was hoping to achieve.
Click to read a copy of PurpleDoor's original artistic selection policy, which aimed to remove all levels of gatekeeping in support of a wider range of voices and stories.