Has the theatres political philosophy changed since the early CP days?
Falson: Even back in the ’30s, we never had more than one in six who were CP members. Hoad: The political climate in the 1930s was much more live or die. There was 37% unemployment. In those days we were known as very red, because you couldn’t be grey and wishy-washy like today, when you don’t see a big difference between the two major parties. Now, we’re still to the left; we still agitate where possible, but it’s a totally different climate out there. One of the reasons we had Merry Xmas Pauline Hanson here last year was in opposition to that extreme right element. We want to express the other side. Falson: Just keeping this place going is a big political statement. To keep a stage free for anything to be said on it. If you wanted to put your “Piss Christ” up on our stage and we decided it’s politically right for this theatre, we wouldn’t close it down. Hoad: We’ve had sponsors approach us because of our success, but we’ve said no thank you, because we want to be in charge of our des
