Theatre with a Purpose: Amateur Drama in Britain 1919-1949

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This study of British amateur drama during the period when it was at its most popular as a cultural practice demonstrates the conviction in inter-war educational, theatrical and political circles that amateur drama could have a purpose beyond the recreational. Examining 5 distinct but inter-related examples from around Britain in their socio-political contexts, Don Watson builds on current scholarship as well as making use of archival sources, local newspapers, unpublished scripts and the records of organizations not usually associated with the theatre. This study includes original accounts of the use of drama in the adult education provided by educational settlements in deprived areas, and of amateur theatre in government-funded centres for unemployed people in the 1930s. It examines repertoires, participation by working class people and pioneering techniques of play-making. Amateur drama festivals and competitions were intended to raise standards and educate audiences. This book assesses their effect on play-making, and the use of innovative one-act plays to express contentious material, as well as looking at the Left Book Club Theatre Guild as an attempt to align the amateur theatre movement with anti-fascist and anti-war movements. A chapter on the Second World War rectifies the neglect of amateur theatre in war-time cultural studies, arguing that it was present and important in every aspect of war-time life. Taken as a whole, the case studies discussed achieved a social class diversity in amateur theatre-making and made an important contribution to British theatre and theatre studies.

Author Bio

Don Watson is an independent historian based in North East England. His previous publications include Squatting in Britain 1945-1955: Housing, Politics, and Direct Action (2016) and No Justice Without A Struggle: The National Unemployed Workers Movement in the North East of England 1920-1940 (2014). He has been contributing to historical journals for more than thirty years.