Political Theatre in England

Political Theatre in England Theodore Shank Alternative or fringe theatre in England, as elsewhere, serves more specific interests than those of the white-middle-class-heterosexualpolitically -and-artistically-moderate spectator. There is theatre created especially for black people, for workers, for women, for homosexuals, and for intellectuals to mention the most prolific. In aiming for specific audiences this new theatre is reacting against mass TV entertainment and rejects the concept of artistic universality and durability. Whether or not the productions overtly advocate an ideology, such work is implicitly political because it opposes the idea of cultural continuity and homogeneity. But in England there is an increasing number of theatre groups which are overtly political in their productions and in the collective structures of their companies. Most of these groups consider themselves part of the labor movement and have found a new audience among members of the trade unions. Some call themselves revolutionary socialists, many are Marxists, all would change the pluralistic social democratic government of Britain. HISTORY in England the labor movement's interest in theatre goes back to the staging of mystery cycles by medieval guilds of craftsmen. More recently , in the 1930s, agit-prop theatres were especially active. At the beginning of thatdecade there were about 150 such groups in England performing plays along principles outlined by the Soviet Communist Party. Such theatre was an expression of the workers movement, not part of an alternative cultural movement, and continued until World War II. The economic boom following the war together with the Cold War had a profound effect upon the labor movement in England and there was very little political theatre until the 1960s. Beginning with the 1956 pro48 duction of Osborne's Look Back in Anger the theatre became interested in some working class problems. However, these plays were produced inside the established bourgeois theatre; they were not a part of the labor movement and they did not attempt to have an impact upon British culture by providing a political analysis or advocating change. In the cultural unrest of the late 1960s political theatre was revived. Initially it had nothing to do with the labor movement and was instead part of the student movement which had spread from the U.S. to England. Sketches were done on campuses, at demonstrations, and at meetings. The Cartoon Archetypical Slogan Theatre (CAST) was formed in 1965 by students who had no previous theatre experience, although John Arden worked with them briefly and wrote a play for the company. While CAST is still working, it has had a more tenuous existence than another political theatre group formed in 1968. Red Ladder Theatre (originally called Agit-Prop Theatre) began producing plays to support the fight of tenants against rent increases in government housing owned by the Greater London Council. The relationship between Red Ladder Theatre and the labor movement came about partly because trade unionists were also involved in the fight over rents. These contacts enabled the company to perform under union sponsorship. But there were two other factors which increased their bookings and brought them the subsidy necessary to enable them to devote full-time to their theatre work. As early as 1955 the Trades Union Congress (TUC) representing trade unions in Great Britain had called upon the government to ensure sufficient support for live theatre and other cultural activities. At the Congress the following year they took credit for possibly having contributed to the government's decision to increase its grant to the Arts Council of Great Britain. The 1960 Congress passed unanimously resolution number 42, recognizing "the importance of the arts in the life of the community" and requesting "the General Council to conduct a special examination and to make proposals to a future Congress to ensure a greater participation by the trade union movement in all cultural activities ." It was from this resolution that Arnold Wesker's short-lived Centre 42 took its name-an attempt to make the arts accessible to trade unionists. In its report to the 1961 Congress, the General Council recommended that the movement should again seek to bring pressure on central and local government to increase resources for the arts. And in 1975...