The revolutionary theatre of Bertolt Brecht
Australian socialist Tess Lee Ack celebrates the life and work of the revolutionary playwright and poet Bertolt Brecht.
Review | Union
Grace Linden reviews a recent production of Max Wilkinson’s play Union, directed by Wiebke Green, at the Arcola Theatre in Hackney. Is it useful to construct narratives from individual moral responsibility when discussing gentrification? We all need a home; we’re all (too) willing to take on the options offered by a system that exploits our […]
revolutionary reflections | Theatre of the Oppressed as a political method
Sophie Coudray introduces the work of the Brazilian theatre practitioner Augusto Boal and the potential of its method for revolutionary praxis.
Welcome to The Jungle
Colin Revolting and his son were moved to tears by the new play The Jungle, currently showing at the Playhouse Theatre in London’s West End.
Dario Fo: playwright, performer and revolutionary
Colin Revolting and friends pay tribute to Dario Fo who died this week at the age of 90. Dario Fo was a great playwright of the years of unrest and rebellion in the 1960s and ’70s. His plays such as Accidental Death of an Anarchist and Can’t Pay? Won’t Pay! were hilariously cutting critiques of life under […]
Chicago teachers join Manchester’s biggest May Day for years
Tara Stamps and Matt Luskin from the Chicago Teachers’ Union joined Manchester’s biggest International Workers’ Day festival for years. Ian Allinson reports. Manchester TUC had organised a huge festival for May Day this year. Despite hail, rain and sun we marched into the city centre to Sackville Gardens and the Mechanics Institute (the birthplace of […]
Can we afford to laugh at ourselves in Broken Britain? A review of The Suicide
In the bleak years of Stalinist Russia Nikolai Erdman wrote a grim satire about a man planning to take his own life. In the bleak years of neoliberal Britain Suhayla El-Bushra has updated the play. Colin Revolting asks whether it survives the resurrection. Unemployed and now struck off benefits, Sam (Javone Prince) is stuck in […]
Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom
With accusations of racism at the Oscars, the play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom about black experience in the entertainment industry is having a timely revival. Tazmin Aldis reviews. Reportedly one of August Wilson’s finest works, the play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom is set in 1927’s Chicago. Fundamentally the plot centres itself around a black singer, […]
Review: The Cheviot, the Stag and the Black, Black Oil
Just over 40 years after it was originally preformed, the Dundee Rep ensemble has revived the play The Cheviot, The Stag and the Black, Black Oil (running until 26 September). The original was written and performed by the 7-84 theatre company (named after the statistic 7% owned 84% of the wealth). Last year’s independence referendum in […]
Review: Light Shining in Buckinghamshire
The election debates have been dull, but gripping debates from England’s revolutionary past are on stage at the National Theatre, writes Colin Wilson. It’s sometimes said that revolution isn’t in the nature of British people. Yet from 1642 to 1660, long before revolution in France or Russia, England went through revolutionary turmoil that included the […]
Review: United We Stand
James B reviews United We Stand, a new play currently touring with Townsend Productions, which tells the story of Des Warren and Ricky Tomlinson, the 1972 construction strike and the Shrewsbury Pickets Casualisation, self-employment and agency work are all features of many people’s working lives today. In the summer of 1972 similar conditions were rife in the […]
People’s theatre and fun palaces: the life of Joan Littlewood
Radical left wing theatre director Joan Littlewood changed the face of modern British theatre. Marking the centenary of her birth there will be celebrations across Britain in honour of her achievements and ambitions including over 120 Fun Palaces are popping up across the country this weekend. Colin Revolting from the Revolting Peasants theatre company looks […]
Review: The Pajama Game strikes a chord
Even for those who usually baulk at the idea of seeing a musical, the new production of The Pajama Game is a treat not to be missed, argues Jaz Blackwell-Pal It may seem strange to step into a West End show and be greeted by an actor telling you that this is a story ‘about […]
Review: Blurred Lines
Jaz Blackwell-Pal reviews the play Blurred Lines, a political piece of theatre that highlights how powerful women are in the face of misogyny and a sexist onslaught.