Authenticity and Representation: The Council Estate at The Royal Court Theatre

Council estates, otherwise known as British social housing estates, have been subject to media scrutiny since their inception. Widespread criticism of social housing is a prominent feature of British Welfare State discourse. Recent media coverage, for example of the 2011 riots, and urban governance, mean these spaces remain central to discussions of class, economics and crime in the UK. This article draws on postcolonial theory to explore contemporary representations of the Council Estate on The Royal Court stage - with a particular focus on narratives of ‘authenticity’. We explore two plays, Off the Endz (Agbaje, 2010) and The Westbridge (De-lahay, 2011), to analyse how narratives of authenticity work in theatrical representations to both reinforce and resist popular representations of Council Estate spaces. Charlotte Bell is a PhD candidate in the Drama Department at Queen Mary University, where she is currently writing her PhD thesis on the urban social housing estate and the contemporary cultural economy; Katie Beswick is a Research Associate in Applied Theatre at the University of Leeds, where she is writing her PhD thesis on the representation of the Council Estate in theatrical performance practices.