Arts & International Affairs: 2.3: Autumn/Winter 2017 | Page 11

THE BRITISH COUNCIL AND THE POWER OF THEATRE
Figure 1: British Council Building in New Delhi, India
When I started at the British Council, I soon saw that we needed to amplify the work we
were doing across the arts—but again, particularly in theatre—to make a difference in
society, in effect to advance the cause of social change. This wasn’t and isn’t about crude
instrumentalism, it is about acknowledging (as we’ve been discussing) that theatre has a
power, has an impact in the social arena to create a platform for positive social change—
in attitudes to women, to racism, to intolerance of minorities, to health and well-being.
To my mind, artists in the UK are more engaged in such fields than at any time since the
late 1960s—more “up for” direct social engagement on the pressing issues of the day
through drama and the