As a PhD candidate at the Central School of Speech and Drama, my primary interest focuses on the influence of the Association of British Theatre Technicians (ABTT) on the development of post-war British technical theatre. I argue that the ABTT was central to the professionalisation of post-war British theatre, and that as a result, backstage labour came through increasing forms of regulative governance, with the ABTT substantially influencing the way models of standardisation developed across the sector, particularly in its formative years, 1961 – 1985. Responding to growing contemporary interest in technical theatre and labour professionalisation, I contextualise and historicise current debates, providing a new discursive framework. This is achieved by firstly, exploring the role played by technical theatre, more generally, in the diversification of labour across post-war, civic and subsidised British theatres, and secondly, by looking at how theatre as an organisation, civic structure, and institution, developed in line with emergent technologies and technical professions. Focus is upon the bifurcation of specialist roles, particularly evident within stage lighting and sound, and the influence of expertise upon architecture, policy, and stage design. In the thesis, therefore, I examine the influence of the ABTT during its formative years, and its contribution to the conditions of politics, governance and power within theatre, by exploring the association as a model dispositif within technical professionalisation.