Like many industrialists of their day, the Rowntrees’ leadership of York’s cocoa works combined business management with practical action intended to improve society, culture, and health for their workers. Steered by current thinking around production and productivity, and guided by Quaker business ethics, working days and weeks were shortened, on-site healthcare from doctors and dentists made available, factory education schemes delivered and extended, and recreational activities designed to develop employees physically, spiritually, and culturally provided. Just a short distance down the Haxby Road, at New Earswick village - the housing community created by Joseph Rowntree - a history of similar, growing provision for theatre can be traced. This talk will explore some of the early evidence that we have for theatre in the factory and the village, and offer some reasons as to why theatre might have been useful to the Rowntrees’ wider enterprises and activities.

Catherine Hindson is Professor of Theatre History at the University of Bristol and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. Her research focuses on how theatre helps us understand societies past, and incorporates topics including celebrity, heritage, ghosts, and well-being. She is the author of three books, Theatre in the Chocolate Factory: Performance at Cadbury's Bournville, 1900-1935 (2023), Female Performance Practices on the fin-de-siècle stages of London and Paris (2007), and London’s West End Actresses and the Origins of Celebrity Culture, 1880-1920 (2016). She is currently working on women leaders in early twentieth century industry and their connections with arts and creativity, and with the Rowntree Society, Port Sunlight Village Trust, and Unilever archives to share her research with wider communities.

Light refreshments will be provided.

To register your attendance, please visit: Drama at the Cocoa Works Tickets, Sat 13 Apr 2024 at 14:00 | Eventbrite