Who nowadays is interested in theatre history?
While I am, I doubt if there are many readers who are similarly inclined. But the subject of Connie Healy’s book is precisely the sort of theatre we should all be interested in. I say that because very few activists today recognize how powerful a political weapon theatre was in the period following the 1917 Russian Revolution. Imbued with its own strong sense of class, the workers’ theatre movement — as it came to be known — quickly spread during the inter-war years, winning to itself thousands of dedicated practitioners who applied themselves passionately to play-making. The scale and influence of this creative enterprise is amazing. It fostered talent by creating its own repertoire. It developed new theatrical forms. It merged with its audiences by drawing its actors, writers and directors from among them. Today perhaps it is difficult to comprehend what made it tick. It wasn’t anyone’s career, nor a guarantee of a ticket to fame. No one got paid. People threw themselves into product
