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British Theatre And The Red Peril: The Portrayal of Communism 1917-1945
British Theatre and the Red Peril examines how communism was portrayed in plays in the British theatre between 1917 and 1945, and how at a time when the capitalist system seemed on the verge of collapse, the theatre played a significant part in communicating and manipulating political propaganda in order to influence audiences. It reveals explicit right-wing propaganda produced within mainstream British theatre and questions the assumption that political theatre is almost always left-wing.
The book draws on published and unpublished scripts and archive documents to demonstrate how the theatre became a key site for propaganda and ideological warfare. It discusses the methods by which the Lord Chamberlain, the government and even royalty exerted control over the political views voiced on stage in an age when contemporary commentators described the theatre as second only to the press in terms of its significance as a medium of communication.
The book draws on published and unpublished scripts and archive documents to demonstrate how the theatre became a key site for propaganda and ideological warfare. It discusses the methods by which the Lord Chamberlain, the government and even royalty exerted control over the political views voiced on stage in an age when contemporary commentators described the theatre as second only to the press in terms of its significance as a medium of communication.
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
April 14, 2015
I enjoyed this very much. I was disappointed that none of the plays that Beatrix was in were mentioned, but I found it to be incredibly useful background reading despite that. In fact I will probably end up buying my own copy when I have to return this to the library.
p. 3 talks about how writers and producers would censor their work in the hopes of getting past the Lord Chamberlin, so even though that many plays weren't rejected as being inappropriate, because they knew they had to pass to be produced, writers would self censor to meet the standards. "The fact that relatively few totally unaceptable scripts ever got as far as being submitted - or even written - merely proves the effectiveness of the system."
p. 8 "while other European theatres experimented with new theatre forms and tehcniques and with actor/audience relationships most British theatre clung desperately to antiquated methods and assumptions rooted in the previous century.
p. 18 "On the face of it theatre clubs such as the Arts reprensented a loophole in the censorship restrictions. As private venues performing only to paid-up members, they were outside the Lord Chamberlin's power, and plays which could not be liscenced for public performance were frequently performed at such clubs. However, the potential influence of an occasional, inadequately resourced and probably under-rehearsed Sunday performance in comparison to a production running for weeks or months in the commercial sector was slight. Moreover - a wonderfully British paradox this - managers of clubs accetpat that their apparent freedom was dependent on the fact that they would not actually use it. Griffith himself carricatured this position through the words of an imaginary manager, 'We are outside the Censor's jurisdiction here, and for that very reason we have to be careful of the plays we do. If it got about that we were using our priviledge to do improper plays, our membership would go down immediately". Griffith introduction to Red Saturday.
In this bit he seems to be getting a bit confussed between the Sunday productions by theatre groups which were largely one offs, often with the hopes of being picked up to be produced commercially, and the small theatre clubs which would produce plays for several weeks. Productions that Beatrix was in at both the Gate before the war and the Arts afterwards were ones that would not have been allowed to be performed in a main theatre, and as such were pushing what would be considered accetpable.
This is discussed more on p. 21, "The manager who clashed most regularly with the Lord Chamberlin during the late twenties and early 30s was Terance Gray, a producer who was committed to introducing some of the more innovative European and American plays and performance stylkes and techniques to audiences at Cambridge's Festival theatre. Gray's choice of material was not generally based on the politics of a text, but experiments in p 22 form quite frequently accompanied non-orthodox ideas and exploations of current issues. For example, his production of Toller's Hoppla incorporated cinematic sequences with the dramatic action, but was as Gray put it, "mutilated" by the ruling imposed on him by the Lord Chamberlain, who decided that scenes showing "Soliders firing on the unarmed populace, including women and girls, who are seen falling and afterwards lying dead, were unsuitable for exhibition in this country. Festival theatre review, 3, 23 Feb 1929) Theatre research international, 1996 xxi, no. 2.
p. 43 1926 was the general strike
p. 56 discusses a previous play by Clemance Dane, produced at the Liverpool play house in 192 and written for mrs Patrick Campbell to play the part of a suffering Russian aristocrat. "Dane depicts the revolution as a reversal of the natural order of things, which has allowed the mob, with it animal instincts to take power. The terror on which the play focuses is primarily to do with individual sexual lust rather than with politics..." It was produced by Nigel Playfair.
p 69 discusses the 1928 visit of th Moscow Arts Theatre "with a repatoire of eight plays by Chekhov, Ostrovsky, Tolstoy and Gorky presented in Russian." It would be worth researching to see if these had any influence on Bea and her political and theatrical ideas.
p., 92 discusses the left theatre groups from the 1930s, none of whom Beatrix was involved with and I have wondered why. Not all were professional, most amateur which is probably why. the Workers Theatre Movement, Unity Theatre, Left Theatre, THeatre of Action and Group Theatre. p. 93 "The task of the WTM is the conduct of mass working class propaganda and agitation throgh the particular method of dramatic representation". Unity theatre founded in 1936 composed entirely of amateurs, p. 95.
p. 111-112 talk about Sean O'Casey's Communist play The Star turns red which was written in 1937-1939 which helps to explain why him and Beatrix started corresponding and both contributed writing to the youth magazine. The author gives a description of the play which opened at the Unity Theatre. (I think O'Casey mentioned them in his letters to Bea).
p 117 discusses Peter Ustinov's House of Regrets, which may partially explain why him and Bea worked together later. Though rather than a Communist play it focused on a group of Russians living in exile in 1917.
p118 has quotes about the Red Army from Our Time, the periodical that Beatrix was one of the original editors for. "Indeed Our Time repeatedly argued that the Red Army was stonre, because, by contrast to the British Army, it had something definite to fight for and something positive to defentd,
p 122 mentions how Our Time as well as the Unity Theatre both published scripts of Soviet plays. 125 mentions a different our time editor.
While not relating directly to Beatrix this book provided an excellent background on the theatre and the plays and the people she worked with and the various attitudes towards Communism they all had.
p. 3 talks about how writers and producers would censor their work in the hopes of getting past the Lord Chamberlin, so even though that many plays weren't rejected as being inappropriate, because they knew they had to pass to be produced, writers would self censor to meet the standards. "The fact that relatively few totally unaceptable scripts ever got as far as being submitted - or even written - merely proves the effectiveness of the system."
p. 8 "while other European theatres experimented with new theatre forms and tehcniques and with actor/audience relationships most British theatre clung desperately to antiquated methods and assumptions rooted in the previous century.
p. 18 "On the face of it theatre clubs such as the Arts reprensented a loophole in the censorship restrictions. As private venues performing only to paid-up members, they were outside the Lord Chamberlin's power, and plays which could not be liscenced for public performance were frequently performed at such clubs. However, the potential influence of an occasional, inadequately resourced and probably under-rehearsed Sunday performance in comparison to a production running for weeks or months in the commercial sector was slight. Moreover - a wonderfully British paradox this - managers of clubs accetpat that their apparent freedom was dependent on the fact that they would not actually use it. Griffith himself carricatured this position through the words of an imaginary manager, 'We are outside the Censor's jurisdiction here, and for that very reason we have to be careful of the plays we do. If it got about that we were using our priviledge to do improper plays, our membership would go down immediately". Griffith introduction to Red Saturday.
In this bit he seems to be getting a bit confussed between the Sunday productions by theatre groups which were largely one offs, often with the hopes of being picked up to be produced commercially, and the small theatre clubs which would produce plays for several weeks. Productions that Beatrix was in at both the Gate before the war and the Arts afterwards were ones that would not have been allowed to be performed in a main theatre, and as such were pushing what would be considered accetpable.
This is discussed more on p. 21, "The manager who clashed most regularly with the Lord Chamberlin during the late twenties and early 30s was Terance Gray, a producer who was committed to introducing some of the more innovative European and American plays and performance stylkes and techniques to audiences at Cambridge's Festival theatre. Gray's choice of material was not generally based on the politics of a text, but experiments in p 22 form quite frequently accompanied non-orthodox ideas and exploations of current issues. For example, his production of Toller's Hoppla incorporated cinematic sequences with the dramatic action, but was as Gray put it, "mutilated" by the ruling imposed on him by the Lord Chamberlain, who decided that scenes showing "Soliders firing on the unarmed populace, including women and girls, who are seen falling and afterwards lying dead, were unsuitable for exhibition in this country. Festival theatre review, 3, 23 Feb 1929) Theatre research international, 1996 xxi, no. 2.
p. 43 1926 was the general strike
p. 56 discusses a previous play by Clemance Dane, produced at the Liverpool play house in 192 and written for mrs Patrick Campbell to play the part of a suffering Russian aristocrat. "Dane depicts the revolution as a reversal of the natural order of things, which has allowed the mob, with it animal instincts to take power. The terror on which the play focuses is primarily to do with individual sexual lust rather than with politics..." It was produced by Nigel Playfair.
p 69 discusses the 1928 visit of th Moscow Arts Theatre "with a repatoire of eight plays by Chekhov, Ostrovsky, Tolstoy and Gorky presented in Russian." It would be worth researching to see if these had any influence on Bea and her political and theatrical ideas.
p., 92 discusses the left theatre groups from the 1930s, none of whom Beatrix was involved with and I have wondered why. Not all were professional, most amateur which is probably why. the Workers Theatre Movement, Unity Theatre, Left Theatre, THeatre of Action and Group Theatre. p. 93 "The task of the WTM is the conduct of mass working class propaganda and agitation throgh the particular method of dramatic representation". Unity theatre founded in 1936 composed entirely of amateurs, p. 95.
p. 111-112 talk about Sean O'Casey's Communist play The Star turns red which was written in 1937-1939 which helps to explain why him and Beatrix started corresponding and both contributed writing to the youth magazine. The author gives a description of the play which opened at the Unity Theatre. (I think O'Casey mentioned them in his letters to Bea).
p 117 discusses Peter Ustinov's House of Regrets, which may partially explain why him and Bea worked together later. Though rather than a Communist play it focused on a group of Russians living in exile in 1917.
p118 has quotes about the Red Army from Our Time, the periodical that Beatrix was one of the original editors for. "Indeed Our Time repeatedly argued that the Red Army was stonre, because, by contrast to the British Army, it had something definite to fight for and something positive to defentd,
p 122 mentions how Our Time as well as the Unity Theatre both published scripts of Soviet plays. 125 mentions a different our time editor.
While not relating directly to Beatrix this book provided an excellent background on the theatre and the plays and the people she worked with and the various attitudes towards Communism they all had.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review