Alternative Political Theatre in Britain in the 1970s:

1
Alternative Political Theatre in Britain in the
1970s

• From Brecht to Thatcher

2
The Background

• The Workers Theatre Movement 1928-1938
• Living Newspaper (the Federal Theatre project)
• Theatre Union Manchester
• Theatre Workshop Stratford, London (Joan
  Littlewood and Ewen MacColl)

3
Victoria Theatre, Stoke

• Documentary Theatre in a conventional theatrical
  setting
• Founded in 1962 as theatre in the round
• Peter Cheeseman, director from 1964
• Productions The Knotty, The Jolly Potters, The
  Fight for Shelton Bar
• Ensemble practice, writer-in-residence
  (Ayckbourn, Plater, Terson, Ken Campbell,
  Halliwell) archival research and oral history
  the words of the time
• Performance styles

4
The 1970s Political Context From Militancy to
Thatcher

• !970-1974 Conservative Government industrial
  strife (Mining, Steel etc.)
• 1974-1979 Labour Government
• Post-1968
• Feminism Womens Liberation Movement
• Chile Solidarity
• Anti-Nazi League

5
The Theatre Companies

• 60 alternative theatre companies
• 784 (Scotland) and 784 (England) (John
  McGrath)
• Monstrous Regiment (Gillian Hanna)
• Banner
• Red Ladder
• CAST Cartoon Archetypal Slogan Theatre
• Foco Novo
• Belt and Braces (Gavin Richards)
• Hull Truck Touring Company
• Joint Stock
• The Bite Theatre Group

6
Organisation, Venues, and Performance Styles

• Collectives
• Left-wing politics
• Non-conventional spaces church halls, pubs,
  trade union clubs, community centres
• Audiences post-performance discussions
• Production and staging music, mime, slide
  projection, agitprop, cartoon, music hall,
  cabaret, folk theatre
• Some groups wrote and devised their own plays,
  others linked with writers and/or performed
  already scripted pieces (e.g. Dario Fos
  Accidental Death of an Anarchist, and other Fo
  and Franca Rame plays)
• Funding (Arts Council) and Wages (Equity minimum)
  

7
Texts Referred to

• The Cheviot, The Stag and the Black, Black Oil
• SCUM
• Vinegar Tom
• England Expects
• Accidental Death of an Anarchist
• The Bite
• The Great Divide