Dr Alistair Fair is Lecturer in Architectural History at the University of Edinburgh. He is a historian of architecture in Britain between 1918 and the 1990s, with specialisms in theatre, university, and hospital architecture, with his most recent book, Modern Playhouses: an architectural history of Britain’s new theatres, 1945-1985, being shortlisted for the SAHGB Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion.
In this talk, he will discuss the programme of theatre-building which took place across Britain between the 1950s and 1980s, with special reference to Manchester. He will set these buildings in context, showing how they relate to wider debates in social and urban history, and to the idea that the arts had a role to play in forging a new, ‘cultivated’ Britain.
All welcome.
Note that this is the rescheduled talk from 13 November 2019.