'Performance, Community, Culture', in The Politics of Performance: Radical Theatre as Cultural Intervention, London: Routledge, pp. 29–40.

Topursueourquestofexplaininghowparticularperformances mayachieveefficacyweneedaconceptwhichcanmediate betweentheexperiencesofindividualaudiencesandthe structuresthatshapesocietyasawhole.Inotherwords,weneeda conceptwhichsignifiesconcretegroupingsofpeopleandatthe sametimeallowsforthemyriadwaysinwhichmanydifferent socialgroupingsmaybeorganised.Ishallarguethattheideaof 'community'cansupplythisneed,thatitcanbetheconceptual lynch-pinwhichlinkstheexperience(andaction)ofindividuals -includingthatofperformance-tomajorhistoricalchangesin society.RaymondWilliamsreinforcesthisfundamental structuralandideologicalfunctionofcommunitywhenhewrites of'theimportanceofactualcommunitiesandformsofassociationasthenecessarymediatingelementbetweenindividualsand largeSociety'(Williams1965:95).Hence,heconceivesof communityastheconcretemediumofface-to-faceinteractions throughwhichwetransactideologicalbusinesswiththewider socialstructure.Thatistosay,thenetworksofourmutual relationswithothershaveinscribedinthemvalueswhichmayor maynotbeconsonantwiththoseinscribedinthelargersocial order.Communityisthusapotentialsiteofideologicalopposi-

30 The politics of performance

tion to the status quo, and a performance which engages with the ideological identity of a particular community may enlist powerful forces for change.