Talking out of Tune
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Talking Out of Tune Remembering British Theatre 1944-56 Kate Lucy Harris Ph.D. School of English Literature, Language and Linguistics University of Sheffield December 2008 1 Summary of Thesis This thesis explores how British Theatre represented and reacted to cultural and social changes between 1944 and 1956. It is closely linked to the oral history strand of the AHRC University of Sheffield British Library Theatre Archive Project <http://www.bl.ukltheatrearchive>. The five chapters focus on distinct subject areas in order to explore the vibrant diversity of the period. However, they are united by an overarching narrative which seeks to consider the relationship between memory and history. The first chapter is based on the oral history strand. It explores the different ways in which the Project's methodology has shaped both the interviewee testimony and my own research. Chapter 2 focuses on the changing historical perceptions of the popular West End plays of the day. Case studies of plays are used to compare the responses of audiences and critics in the 1940s and 50s, with the critical commentaries that surround the plays and playwrights today. The third chapter explores the relationship between BBC television drama and theatre. It assesses the impact that cross fertilisation had on both media by examining plays, productions and policies. Chapters 4 and 5 focus on two of the theatre companies of the period - Theatre Workshop and the Old Vic Theatre Company. Chapter 4 explores the impact that Theatre Workshop's early years as a touring group had on the development of the company. It draws on new oral history testimonies from former company members who joined the group in the 1940s and early 50s. Chapter 5 explores the legacy of the Old Vic Theatre Company between 1944 and 1952. It compares and contrasts testimonies from audience members, practitioners and critics in order to consider how and why certain theatrical moments appeal to the historical imagination. 2 Table of Contents Summary of Thesis ............................................................................................................. 1 Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. 4 Introduction to the Thesis ................................................................................................... 5 Chapter 1 Private Spaces in Public Places: Oral History and Theatrical Memory .................... 24 Chapter 2 West End plays 1945-56: Life beyond French windows? ........................................... 54 Chapter 3 Evolutionary stages: Theatre and television 1946-1956 .......................................... 100 Chapter 4 Breaking with tradition: Theatre Workshop 1945-54 ................................................. 137 Chapter 5 The Old Vic 1944-52: A lasting legacy? ...................................................................... 187 Appendix A ....................................................................................................................... 210 Bibliography ...................................................................................................................... 211 3 List of Illustrations All illustrations are taken from Harry Greene's private archive and are re-printed here by kind permission from Harry Greene. Figure 1 Ewan MacCol1 performing with the Red Megaphones 146 Figure 2 Joan Littlewood and Ewan MacColl working on The Travellers 147 Figure 3 Theatre Workshop rostra 158 Figure 4 Set design for Landscape with Chimneys 159 Figure 5 A sketch of a typical touring venue 178 4 Acknowledgements It would not have been possible for me to undertake this thesis without the generous financial support of the AHRC. I am extremely grateful to Professor Dominic Shellard for supporting my application for the AHRC studentship attached to the University of Sheffield British Library Theatre Archive Project. As a supervisor, Dominic has provided invaluable support and advice throughout my thesis. It has been a real pleasure to work on this research project with him and other colleagues. I would like to express my gratitude towards the now over 200 people who have contributed their memories to the oral history strand of the Theatre Archive Project. Their memories have shaped both the form and content of my work and I would not have been able to write this thesis without them. Harry Greene and David Rose deserve particular recognition as, individually, they both gave up considerable amounts of time to help me. I am incredibly grateful to them for their enthusiasm, and the interest with which they, and many other interviewees, met my persistent queries. Thanks are also due to the archivists and librarians who have helped me to access research material. Marie-Claire Wyatt and Kathryn Johnson provided guidance to the British Library Collections. Richard Workman, and his colleagues at the Harry Ransom Research Centre, Austin, Texas, helped me to access an incredible amount of material in the short space of time that my research trip allowed. At the BBC Written Archives Centre, Rachel Lawson unearthed documents that I would have never otherwise found. Andy O'Dwyer granted me access to the research facilities at the BBC Broadcast Centre and took time out from his own work to organise viewing material. Peggy Seeger kindly gave me permission to access the Ewan MacColl and Peggy Seeger archives at Ruskin College Library, whilst librarians Elizabeth Schlackman and Valerie Moyses, provided guidance about the collection itself. Murray Melvin and Mary Ling gave up their free time to show me round the Theatre Royal, Stratford East archive. Murray's willingness to contact former Theatre Workshop members on behalf of the Theatre Archive Project, proved to be central to the shape of my research on Theatre Workshop. The support of friends, family and work colleagues has been much appreciated over the past three years. In particular I would like to thank Heather Lonsdale for her administrative support in relation to the Project; Thomas Dymond and Helena Ifill for their friendship; and Robert Di Carlo for keeping me sane and reminding me that life exists outside of academia. Finally my parents have been an invaluable source of support and advice at every stage of this thesis. I would particularly like to thank them for reading my work and offering constructive criticism. 5 Introduction to the Thesis BOHR A curious sort of diary memory is. HEISENBERG You open the pages, and all the neat headings and tidy jottings dissolve around you. BOHR You step through the pages into the months and days themselves. HEISENBERG The past becomes the present inside your head. Michael Frayn, Copenhagen 1 This thesis is structured around two central ideas; the primary one being an analysis of the ways in which British theatre represented and reacted to the changing socio-cultural landscape between 1944 and 1956; the secondary one being an exploration of how these narratives have latterly been recorded within cultural history. Memory, and more specifically the different ways in which individuals remember, have shaped the form and content of this study. As chapter 1 will explore, my research is closely linked to the oral history strand of the AHRC University of Sheffield British Library Theatre Archive Project. 2 This thesis strives to give a sense of the diversity of the theatrical landscape in the 1940s and early 50s by considering the period from five distinct angles - Theatre and Memory, West End plays, BBC Television drama, Theatre Workshop and the Old Vic Theatre Company. The premise at the heart of my research is that cultural change is never the result of one single factor, but rather the product of a complex web of relationships which have interacted over a period of time. Britain between 1944 and 1956 was in a state of cultural and social flux. The beginning of this period heralded the end of the Second World War, the election of the first majority Labour Government, the launch of the Welfare State and the arrival of peace-time austerity. It ended with the Conservative Government 1 Michael Frayn, Copenhagen, (London: Methuen, 2003), Act I, p. 6. 2 Hereafter referred to as TAP 6 overseeing an era of burgeoning prosperity and mass consumerism on the home front, whilst facing up to Britain's decline as an imperial power in the wake of the Suez Crisis. In the theatre, the mid-to-Iate 1940s saw the weekly and fortnightly repertory theatres at the height of their post-war powers in terms of commercial success and audience appeal. In London, Terence Rattigan was fast becoming H.M. Tennent's most successful post-war playwright. At the New Theatre, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson and John Burrell re-Iaunched the Old Vic Theatre Company in a frenzy of publicity, whilst directors Michel Saint-Denis and George Devine began their plans for the pioneering Old Vic Centre. In Manchester, Joan Littlewood and Ewan MacColl set up a small touring theatre company called Theatre Workshop. By 1956 the theatrical landscape had changed. The starry Old Vic directorate had broken up and the Old Vic Centre had closed. Theatre Workshop had moved to London and George Devine had launched the ESC. John Osborne was one of a number of new playwrights who had begun to make their mark on post-war British drama. Across the country, weekly and fortnightly theatre-going was falling out of fashion and television was gradually becoming the entertainment medium of choice for a growing section