The book explores the significant cultural shift in British theatre during Margaret Thatcher's administration from 1979 to 1990. It challenges the notion that financial cutbacks were the sole influence on drama, arguing instead that Thatcher's ideology profoundly shaped theatrical discourse. By defining Thatcherism and analyzing its cultural impact, the work delves into the consequences of her policies, particularly through the lens of the Arts Council of Great Britain, providing a nuanced understanding of the era's theatrical landscape.
This book examines changes in performance practice in mainstream British theatre since 1945 which focus on the attempt by directors and companies to replace the realism of inter-war theatre with more physically and vocally expressive acting and ensemble approach to production processes. The aim was to replace the capitalist line-management approach of the commercial theatre with a more democratic collaborative structure that would encourage contribution to the creation of the performance text by the director, writer, actors, designers and technicians. Theatre is viewed as a mode of socio-cultural practice and its evolution in Britain during the second half of the twentieth century is explored in the context of changes in cultural perception, state subsidy, the social status of theatre, technology, and aesthetic influences from abroad. The study focuses not on dramatic texts but on mainstream productions that represent stages in an aesthetic evolution. They include Terence Rattigan’s The Browning Version (1946); Theatre Workshop’s A Taste of Honey (1958) and Oh What a Lovely War (1963); The Royal Shakespeare Company’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle (1962), The Wars of the Roses (1963), The Theatre of Cruelty Laboratory (1964), The Marat-Sade (1964) and US (1966); Steven Berkoff’s Metamorphosis (1969) and Complicite’s The Three Lives of Lucy Cabrol (1994).
