Workers' Theatre: Forms and Techniques

Workers' Theatre: Forms and Techniques GEORGE PHILLIPSON SIX AMATEUR ACTORS ARE GROUPED SYMMETRICALLY on a bare platfonn . Two are kneeling, two standing, one half lying, one crouched slightly behind his companions. Their only properties are six broomsticks which they have arranged in such a way as to suggest prison bars. At the climax of their perfonnance, they all chant: Force the release of the Meerut prisoners! (With hands through bars) COMRADES! Hands across the sea! COMRADES! Solidarity! (Swaying from leJt to right with the rhythm oj the appeal) COMRADES- COMRADES- COMRADESSMASH THE BARS! The last line is the cue for them to fling aside the prison bars, after which they stand shoulder to shoulder for two or three seconds before filing quietly off-stage. Such a SCene as this could have been observed in many parts of Britain in the period 1931-1936, for it is the conclusion of a massdeclamation entitled "Meerut," one of the most successful productions of the contemporary Workers' Theatre Movement. The WTM has only recently emerged from behind some of the more impenetrable shadows of twentieth century theatre history. To speak of British socialist theatre between the wars is generally to refer to its most famous manifestation, Unity Theatre, founded in King's Cross in 1936. However , Unity itself was nourished upon the experience and talent generated and encouraged within the WTM, which had begun its Own gestation at the time of the 1926 General Strike.' 383 The WTM is then worthy of study as the forbear not only of Unity Theatre, but also of politically committed theatre groups of the present day such as 7:84 and Red Ladder. More particularly, it provides a vivid example of reaction against what one radical magazine of the 1930s referred to as the current vogue for "triangular plays in rectangular sets" in the traditionally naturalistic mode of the West End stage. This short account of the formal and technical preoccupations of the WTM will examine the consequences of their rejection of naturalistic technique in light of some of their 1930s presentations, and will reveal as well a perfect synonymity of form and content in their work. There are really three distinct phases in the artistic development of the WTM, and [ must here confine myself to a study of the period 1929-1933. 1929 was the crucial year in the evolution of the distinctive WTM style, for it was in this year that they finally broke with the traditional naturalistic forms in which they had worked almost exclusively since 1926.' The decision to search for new forms was intimately linked to a desire to present more militant political ideas in their work than hitherto, and centred on their disappointment regarding their production of Upton Sinclair's play The Singing Jailbirds. The first performance of this play about industrial militants imprisoned in the United States was a great success, but there was never a second performance. Group discussion by the actors led to the conclusion that the piece "was in effect a glorification of martyrdom" and as such did not represent the militant line they wished their productions to convey. Associated with this desire to present more militant material was a sense of disenchantment with the whole apparatus of the "capitalist theatre," which they considered was calculated "to hlind the workers to the existence of the class struggle." By the winter of 1929, "two Objectives stood out as being of the greatest importance: a more flexible and portable form, and a greater political clarity in aU our material." They found the answer in the "Agit-prop" form, through which they made their most important stylistic innovations, and I shall illustrate this phase of their work by reference to some productions mounted in 1932. While one is considering these plays in performance, it should be borne in mind that the physical conditions in which Agit-prop work was undertaken to a large exten t dictated the forms, techniques and overall visual effects of the productions. Performances were mainly in the open air, either at political meetings or outside strikebound factories . This setting meant that there was no formal stage lighting, and consequently all members of the company were visible to...