ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses upon the Strange Tale community performance project which contributed to the opening season of the playhouse: a collaboration between members of the local community, Imaginarium Theatre company, and Rob Brannen as a scholar/dramaturg/writer. Strange Tale aimed to celebrate the nature of the town’s contemporary community and to create an initial sense of belonging, ownership for, and understanding of the new theatre in their midst. The chapter explores historic parallels right back to the Tudor reign in terms of theatre and community alongside concern for a current socially engaged arts agenda and something of how these two informed the Strange Tale process. The chapter makes the case that the new playhouse in partnership with its community has an opportunity to play a role in defining what cultural recovery might mean for Knowsley. However, the right questions need to be asked informed by current community arts praxis.
