The First World War in British Theatre
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The First World War in British Theatre Nathan Gregory Finger Macquarie University, Department of English In the Somme valley, the back of language broke. It could no longer carry its former meanings. World War I changed the life of words and images in art, radically and forever. —ROBERT HUGHES This thesis is submitted to Macquarie University in fulfilment of the requirements for a Doctor of Philosophy in English. The work is entirely my own and has not been submitted elsewhere for examination. Signed: Nathan Finger Date: ii Acknowledgments First and foremost thanks must go to Paul for the guidance and advice you gave every step of way, especially in the wayward early days of this project. Without your help I’m quite certain I never would have made it. Second, to the people who endured living with me during this process. Anita, Tom and Angela, that means you guys. You fed me and provided much needed social interaction. But let’s face it, I really am the perfect housemate. My comrade throughout all of this, Jenn. Whenever confusion set in, or things looked dark, or I needed a second opinion on when to use a hyphen, you were always there. I can’t imagine having done this without you. I think it made all the difference. And finally, Mum and Dad, for a hundred thousand reasons that could never be listed. For everything. iii Abstract More than a century since its declaration, the First World War is universally accepted as one of the defining events of the twentieth century. Socially, politically, economically and culturally the war is viewed as having been a watershed and marks the boundary between all facets of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Unsurprisingly, it has been depicted in every artistic medium, from novels, memoirs, poems, theatre, film and the visual arts. Yet, while extensive scholarship exists for the majority of these forms, the war’s portrayal in theatre has been largely overlooked as a subject for study. The present project aims to redress this gap through an analysis of the most influential and commercially successful plays to be staged in Britain, set against the social atmosphere present at their time of production. What will become apparent is that the manner in which the war has been portrayed has never settled, but has remained in a constant state of flux. The project will cover four distinct periods, beginning with the war’s enactment, (1914-18). During this time the public’s understanding of the war was predicated on mythic constructions. This was the result of former Victorian and Romantic literary traditions and the widespread circulation of propaganda. The second period, (1919- 38), denotes a time when those who had served and returned home came to see the mythic and romantic portrayals as inaccurate representations of their experiences. Works produced during this period reveal a conscious effort to counter former traditions by taking focus away from ennobled abstractions and placing them on the object of experience. During the third period, (1960-80), new, revisionist historians began to produce critiques of the conflict that cast the commanders and national leaders as the true villains. They were seen as having been out of touch with the realities of frontline conditions and overly reliant on out dated tactics. As a direct result, the war came to be seen as progressively devoid of meaning. Since the 1980s it has been accepted that the First World War was a meaningless conflict. However, contemporary works bring focus to bear on a celebration of the male friendships that formed during the war. In the face of a meaningless conflict soldiers are shown to devote themselves to one another as a means of psychological survival. This final period will reveal that a return to romantic traditions has occurred, albeit of a different iv variety from that seen during at the beginning of the century, bringing portrayals of the war full circle. Today there no longer remain any living persons with first-hand experience of the war, and so the manner through which society constructs an understanding of the event must come from texts that portray it. As such, history itself will be shown to be a constantly shifting and evolving entity. Through performing an in-depth analysis of the selected plays and the broader themes pertinent at the time of their composition, this study will reveal that the theatre surrounding the Great War both responds to and exerts its own shaping influence on social attitudes; an influence that has been as culturally significant as any other work from any other artistic form. v vi Contents Introduction 1 The War in Context 13 Chapter I – The Mythical War, 1914-18 21 Propaganda & Myth 23 Theatre 48 J. M. Barrie’s The New Word 53 Maurice Maeterlinck’s The Mayor of Stilemonde 60 Eugene O’Neill’s The Sniper 65 Chapter II – Myth Under Siege, 1919-38 76 Shell Shock 79 Eugene O’Neill’s Shell Shock 86 R. C. Sherriff’s Journey’s End 91 Sean O’Casey’s The Silver Tassie 101 W. Somerset Maugham’s For Services Rendered 108 Chapter III – War from Within, 1960-80 121 Re-evaluation of the War 123 Joan Littlewood & Theatre Workshop’s Oh, What a Lovely War! 133 Satire 151 Chapter IV – Celebration of Friendship, 1981-2013 160 Friendship 163 Frank McGuinness’ Observe the Sons 174 Nick Whitby’s To the Green Fields Beyond 187 Nick Stafford’s War Horse 196 Laurence Stallings & Maxwell Anderson’s What Price Glory? 204 Conclusion 213 Appendix – Production List 219 Works Cited 223 vii Introduction So we plunged into the romance of battle. —WYNDHAM LEWIS More than a century since its declaration, the First World War is universally accepted as one of the defining events of the twentieth century. Socially, politically, economically and culturally the war is viewed as having been a watershed, and is popularly seen as the boundary between all facets of the ninetieth and twentieth centuries. Because of this significance a great deal of effort has been expended in attempts to make meaning out of the war and the socio-political and cultural impacts it had. These efforts have not been restricted to social and military historians; equally it has proven to be a source of rumination and inspiration for artists also struggling to come to terms with its effects. The war has been depicted in every artistic medium, from novels, memoirs, poems, theatre, film and the visual arts. Today there no longer remains any living persons who served during the war, and so the manner through which society constructs an understanding of the event must come from the historical and cultural texts that portray it. This study will seek to make an examination of those cultural texts with particular focus on theatrical portrayals, primarily from the British perspective. Undeniably responses to the war have been vastly different across both time and between cultures. In an attempt to maintain consistency in this study I have restricted its scope to an Allied, and principally British, perspective. Britain of course represents the English-speaking nation that arguably had the most intimate involvement in the war, not only in terms of geographical proximity, but also in terms of lives lost and resources committed. Additionally, as this project’s discipline is English Literature1 only texts originally composed in English will be considered for extended analysis.2 Furthermore, as a study in English Literature, military histories will be largely set 1 This study will engage with the selected texts as published pieces of theatre. In other words, it is more interested in the works as texts than as performances. Although the performance aspect of the plays will not be overlooked, it will constitute a secondary role. 2 With the exception of Maeterlinck’s The Mayor of Stilemonde: to be addressed in chapter one. 1 aside, with focus instead being placed on theatrical productions and how they pertained to the cultural moods of their time. Having said this, certain histories will be taken into consideration when they provide the opportunity to gain greater insight into the selected theatrical pieces. This will be shown to be the case in chapter three, when the historical writings of Arthur Conan Doyle, John Buchan, Leon Wolff and Alan Clark will be considered. While historical writings certainly provide insight into a past event, texts produced for entertainment and artistic purposes have just as an important role to play in shaping a public’s perception. However, the difficulty inherent in any attempt to construct an understanding of the First World War lies in the fact that the past is not set in stone. Rather, it is a constantly shifting and evolving entity that has meant different things to different people at different times. Therefore, the purpose of this study is not to sketch a definitive meaning of the war, nor to construct a picture that reflects the reality of the event, but instead to chart the altering portrayals of the war in theatre, from its declaration in 1914 to the present day, thereby revealing how it has been perceived, understood and existed in the imagination of a public that has been largely removed from its realities. Further, it will be shown that the public’s changing perceptions of the war have likewise been influenced by its portrayal in theatre. Because of the mutually dependent relationship between audience and artwork, there is scope for the inclusion of plays composed by authors outside of Britain if they have had either a substantial impact on British audiences, or if their composition had been influenced by the prevailing British mood of the day.3 Indeed, the British Isles are not cut off from the wider world, and works that grace its stages have an equal capacity for impact as any other play originating in that country.