Roots and Routes: Kingston-upon-Hull-upon-Stage during UK City of Culture 2017

Abstract

For the duration of 2017, Hull, a port city on the North East coast of England, held the title of UK City of Culture. Exploring the contemporary place identity of Hull was high on the agenda of organisers, not only within the cultural texts commissioned for the event but, equally, within the promotional campaign surrounding it. Following 67.6% of Hull residents voting for the UK to leave the European Union in 2016, a tension appeared in the event’s promotional literature, between attempts to define Hull by its relationships with the wider world, and celebrations of its distinctiveness from it. This article draws upon this tension in order to discuss two theatre productions commissioned for Hull 2017: The Hypocrite and All We Ever Wanted Was Everything. Engaging John Agnew’s three aspects of place, it seeks to analyse how each performance text represents Hull as a lived environment and communal identity, before considering what the connotations of this might be for the perception of Hull as a cosmopolitan or communitarian city.