eBook - ePub
Theatre with a Purpose
Amateur Drama in Britain 1919-1949
- 224 pages
- English
- ePUB (mobile friendly)
- Available on iOS & Android
eBook - ePub
Theatre with a Purpose
Amateur Drama in Britain 1919-1949
About this book
This study of British amateur theatre in the inter-war period examines five different but interwoven examples of the belief, common in theatrical and educational circles at the time, that amateur drama had a purpose beyond recreation.
Amateur theatre was at the height of its popularity as a cultural practice between the wars, so that by 1939 more British people had practical experience of putting on plays than at any time before or since.
Providing an original account of the use of drama in adult education projects in deprived areas, and of amateur theatre in government-funded centres for the unemployed in the 1930s, it discusses 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.
Don Watson builds on current scholarship and makes use of archival sources, local newspapers, unpublished scripts and the records of organizations not usually associated with the theatre. His work explores the range and diversity of amateur drama between the wars and the contributions it made to British theatre.
Amateur theatre was at the height of its popularity as a cultural practice between the wars, so that by 1939 more British people had practical experience of putting on plays than at any time before or since.
Providing an original account of the use of drama in adult education projects in deprived areas, and of amateur theatre in government-funded centres for the unemployed in the 1930s, it discusses 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.
Don Watson builds on current scholarship and makes use of archival sources, local newspapers, unpublished scripts and the records of organizations not usually associated with the theatre. His work explores the range and diversity of amateur drama between the wars and the contributions it made to British theatre.
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Please note we cannot support devices running on iOS 13 and Android 7 or earlier. Learn more about using the app.
Yes, you can access Theatre with a Purpose by Don Watson, Claire Cochrane, Bruce McConachie, Claire Cochrane,Bruce McConachie in PDF and/or ePUB format, as well as other popular books in Media & Performing Arts & Modern British History. We have over one million books available in our catalogue for you to explore.
Information
Table of contents
- Cover
- Half-Title Page
- Series Page
- Title Page
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of Abbreviations
- Introduction: Amateur Theatre and History
- 1 ‘A theatrical revival on democratic lines’: Drama and the People after the Great War
- 2 ‘A co-operative community effort’: Educational Settlement Theatre
- 3 Social Control or Self-Expression? Amateur Theatre and the Unemployment Crisis
- 4 Competitions, Festivals, Politics
- 5 ‘The terribly urgent struggle’: The Left Book Club Theatre Guild, 1936–9
- 6 ‘A remarkable revival in dramatic work and interest’: Amateur Theatre during the Second World War
- Conclusion: The Contribution of Theatre with a Purpose
- Notes
- Select Bibliography
- Index
- Copyright