Following my praising the Kiln Theatre's efforts at community involvement, I note that it is now being subjected to criticism on the grounds that the people in the production were not paid.
I think this is to misunderstand the long tradition of community engagement that is being invoked here. This production is more in the tradition of Noye's Fludde and other "Peoples' Theatre". Complaining about it is a bit like complaining about Amateur Dramatics, or amateur musicians giving recitals, or Brent Dance Month. It ignores part of the country's long tradition of occasional arts participation.
The principle of paying people who doing a professional job is an important one, and one that undermined many of the pitches for "Big Society" volunteer libraries. Although I had to examine these during the Libraries Transformation Project, it was never satisfactorily resolved as to when being a volunteer passed into effective employment and therefore demanded things like minimum wage employment, insurance and so on.
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