Theatre

I am a playwright. I show
What I have seen.
In the man markets
I have seen how men are traded. That
I show, I, the playwright.

Bertolt Brecht

Wednesday, 07 November 2018 13:19

Badass Jewish women: Chanukah Lewinsky, 120 Years from Grodno

Written by Reuben Bard-Rosenberg

in Theatre

Reuben Bard-Rosenberg reviews Chanukah Lewinsky: 120 Years from Grodno Last week, a sell-out crowd at JW3 in London was treated to an unusual performance by up-and-coming performance artist Dex Grodner. As the lights dimmed, Chanukah Lewinsky appeared on-stage, and began to rearrange her bags and suitcases. It was 1890 Russia,…

Thursday, 11 October 2018 13:37

Brexit: A Positive or Negative for Britain’s Working-Class Actors?

Written by Luna Williams

in Theatre

Luna Williams considers the implications of Brexit for the theatre industry, and particularly its lack of working class representation. With Brexit day (29th March, 2019) just around the corner, Theresa May and her cabinet appear to be struggling to strike up a deal with the EU which fulfills the promises…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Tuesday, 09 October 2018 13:15

Burning Books

in Theatre

Written by Doug Nicholls

There will be a performance of “Burning Books” at Quorn Grange Hotel, Loughborough, Leics., on 23rd November. Jess Green’s most recent story of protest, teaching and what is happening in today’s schools has struck a chord with many, and we hope that you are able to come along. Ask yourself,…

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Sunday, 19 August 2018 23:04

The Political History of Smack and Crack: thrills, spills and the need for revolution

in Theatre

Written by Ed Edwards

Ed Edwards contributes an essay on the political background to his brilliant new play, after a short review by Mike Quille. The Review: An outstanding dramatisation of the social consequences of neoliberal capitalism on young men and women by Mike Quille There have been many stimulating plays with political themes…

Edinburgh Festival Thatcher government Mafia Afghan War Vietnam War Contras

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Saturday, 31 March 2018 11:52

Marx, Shakespeare, King Lear and the modern precariat

in Theatre

Written by Jenny Farrell

Jenny Farrell outlines a Marxist reading of Shakespeare, and illustrates it with an analysis of Shakespeare's King Lear. Among Marxism’s core insights is that all history since the end of the primitive society has been a history of class societies and class struggle. Art does not arise in a vacuum; it…

Hamlet Macchiavelli precariat

K2_PUBLISHED_ON Monday, 26 February 2018 16:04

Wonderland

in Theatre

Written by Ross Bradshaw

Ross Bradshaw reviews a recent play at the Nottingham Playhouse about the 1984 Miners' Strike. Wonderland, written by Beth Steel, was the first play of the new artistic director at Nottingham Playhouse, Adam Penford. It ended with a full house and an almost completely standing ovation. It was, I gather, not the first…

Miners' Strike 1984 Beth Steel

Friday, 26 January 2018 15:41

The cult of Shakespeare: a provocation

Written by Chris Jury

in Theatre

Chris Jury tells us why he can't stand Shakespeare. I don’t like Shakespeare. There, I’ve said it. Said the unsayable. A man who claims to be literate, educated and intelligent says he doesn’t like Shakespeare. It’s an outrage! And I know ‘outrage’ will be a response to this statement because…

RSC National Theatre West End

Thursday, 04 January 2018 10:45

Spotlights and Searchlights: Theatre and the Russian Revolution

Written by Amy Skinner

in Theatre

In a tribute to Russia’s theatrical experimenters, for whom the Revolution promised a new world of artistic possibilities, Amy Skinner presents a brief history of an art that 'without doubt, changed the world'. On 25th February 1917, Revolution hung in the air of Russia’s capital city. The protests at the…

Meyerhold Proletkult

Delacroix, Hamlet and Horatio before the Gravediggers, 1843

Wednesday, 29 November 2017 11:04

Shakespeare’s Gravediggers – the first appearance of working people on the world stage

Written by Jenny Farrell

in Theatre

Jenny Farrell discusses the prophetic politics of the Gravedigger scene in Shakespeare's Hamlet, in which class-based justice and fundamental human equality are discussed by those whose task it will be to 'set right the time' by revolutionary upheaval. The scene is the first appearance of working people on the world stage.…

Shakespeare Hamlet

Tuesday, 03 October 2017 19:30

Workers' Play Time: progressive political drama

Written by Doug Nicholls

in Theatre

Doug Nicholls introduces a great new collection of political plays. Trade union struggles over the years have inspired some of our greatest playwrights. They have also inspired many works of drama that packed a punch in their time but have since been largely – and unjustly – forgotten. This is…

Shakespeare Keir Hardie Dagenham machinists Kathleen McCreery GFTU