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Based on theatrical research of unusual depth and enterprise,
Theatre as a Weapon (1986) shows how the workers' theatre of the 1920s and 1930s transformed the social function of theatre. Drawing largely on unpublished sources, it provides lively case studies of workers' theatre in the USSR, Germany and the United Kingdom.
List of contents
Part 1. We are the Blue Blouse: Workers’ Theatre in the USSR 1. The Roar of the Dynamo 2. From the Reformers to the Revolutionaries: Sources and Influences 3. Born of the Press Part 2. Hello! – State Power!: Workers’ Theatre in Germany 4. The Origins of German Agitprop 5. Agitate! A Movement Evolves 6. Propaganda – Coping with the Crisis 7. Towards a Popular Theatre Part 3. Theatre of Attack: Workers’ Theatre in Britain 8. From Luddite Melodrama to the Workers’ Theatre Movement 9. The Old World’s Crashing… 10. The Heyday of the WTM 11. Return to the Curtain Stage – the Decline of the WTM 12. Achievements and Weaknesses Part 4. Conclusion 13. Three Movements
About the author
Born and educated in Austria, Richard Stourac was an actor, director, playmaker. He worked extensively in experimental and political theatre, including (in Austria) Die Komödiantien, (in Britain) Agitprop Theatre, Red Ladder Mobile Workers’ Theatre, Broadside Mobile Workers’ Theatre, Alem Fronterias (Portuguese Migrant Workers’ Theatre) and (in West Berlin) Theatermanufaktur. At the time of this book, he was lecturer in drama at the School of Creative and Performing Rights, Polytechnic of Newcastle upon Tyne. Kathleen McCreery was born in Canada, educated in the US, and has worked as an actress, writer, director, journalist, broadcaster and teacher in the US, Austria, Britain and Germany. She helped found the Red Ladder, Broadside and Alem Fronteiras theatre groups, and was tutor/director for Vukani, an anti-apartheid women’s theatre project, and the Lambeth Under-Fives Campaign drama group. At the time of writing this book, she was associate lecturer in drama at the School of Creative and Performing Rights, Polytechnic of Newcastle upon Tyne, where she also teaches creative writing.
Summary
Based on theatrical research of unusual depth and enterprise, Theatre as a Weapon (1986) shows how the workers’ theatre of the 1920s and 1930s transformed the social function of theatre. Drawing largely on unpublished sources, it provides lively case studies of workers’ theatre in the USSR, Germany and the United Kingdom.
