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Bolshevism in Lancashire: British Strike Plays of the 1920s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 January 2009

Steve Nicholson
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Abstract

In an article in NTQ 29 (February 1992), Steve Nicholson looked at how the Russian Revolution was portrayed in the 1920s by the Conservative theatre establishment. Usually it is the Left that is accused of simplistic theatrical agitation: but in this, the second of two articles about the right-wing political theatre of the 1920s, the author shows how plays about industrial conflict and strikes within Britain demonstrated a level of crude Conservative propaganda that has tended to go unremarked. This article has been researched largely through unpublished manuscripts in the Lord Chamberlain's collection of plays in the British Library, and derives from the author's broader study of the portrayal of Communism in the British theatre between 1917 and 1945. Steve Nicholson is currently Lecturer in Drama at the Workshop Theatre of the University of Leeds.

Type
Research Article
Information
New Theatre Quarterly , Volume 8 , Issue 30 , May 1992 , pp. 159 - 166
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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References

Notes and References

1. Reparation is an unpublished one-act play by Robert Hutchinson, first performed at the Grand Theatre, Lancaster, in March 1918.

2. See New Theatre Quarterly, VIII, No. 29 (Feb. 1992).

3. Yellow Sands ran from November 1926 until February 1928 at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket, for a total of 612 performances.

4. Eden, and Phillpotts, Adelaide, Yellow Sands (London, 1927), p. 124–5Google Scholar.

5. The Bolshevik, by Brooke, A. Edward, was given its first performance in Reptford in 12 1919Google Scholar.

6. From the unpublished manuscript of The Bolshevik, Act III, p. 13, in the Lord Chamberlain's Collection of Licensed Plays.

7. It's All Wrong, subtitled ‘A Musical Complaint’, was written by Elsie Janis, and was imported from America. It ran at the Queen's Theatre, London, for a total of 112 performances between December 1920 and March 1921.

8. Unpublished manuscript of It's All Wrong, p. 11–13, in the Lord Chamberlain's Collection of Licensed Plays.

9. Ibid., p. 16.

10. Ibid., unnumbered.

11. Labour on Top, by Podmore, C. T., was first performed in Manchester in 05 1926Google Scholar.

12. The Bolshevik Peril: a Short Drama for Today, by Grahame, R., was first performed in Tredegar in 03 1919Google Scholar.

13. Unpublished manuscript of The Bolshevik Peril, p. 7–8, in the Lord Chamberlain's Collection of Licensed Plays.

14. Ibid., p. 9–10.

15. Ibid., p. 17–18.

16. Ibid., p. 24–5.

17. The Right to Strike, by H. Ernest Hutchinson, ran for 82 performances at the Garrick, Lyric, and Queen's Theatres, London, between September and December 1920.

18. The Spectator, 16 Oct. 1920, p. 500.

19. Unpublished manuscript of The Right to Strike, Act IV, p. 12, in the Lord Chamberlain's Collection of Licensed Plays.

20. Ibid., Act III, p. 15–16.

21. Monkhouse's, AllanFirst Blood was published in 1924, but apparently not performed until 1926Google Scholar.

22. Shadows of Strife, by Davison, John, was performed in Sheffield in 03 1928Google Scholar, and in Birmingham in November 1929, before coming to the Arts Theatre Club, London, in December 1929.

23. Saturday Review, 14 Dec. 1929, p. 722–3.

24. Davison, John, Shadows of Strife, 1929, p. 10–11Google Scholar.

25. Ibid., p. 71.

26. Ibid., p. 75.