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Early plays: anti-war, capitalism and censorship
The club’s transition from mass declamations on the streets of Liverpool to its first full-length programme of plays in January 1938 marked a significant milestone in its early history. The theatre selected prominent works relating to the struggles of the working class including Waiting for Lefty and I Can’t Sleep by American playwright Clifford Odets, and Hewers of Coal by Scottish miner turned playwright Joe Corrie.
Following some comments about the severity of these three plays, the theatre chose next a more humorous addition to their repertory in the political satire Where’s that Bomb? written by London taxi driver Herbert Hodge. The secretary Jerry Dawson went on to describe the play as the “first genuinely proletarian production in its field”. The plot focuses on a critique of the capitalist system through the protagonist Joe Dexter’s dream about a rebellion launched by characters in his poems against Money Power. Together with Waiting for Lefty and I Can’t Sleep the plays were a powerful triple-bill, but their repeat performance at the Chester Festival brought great controversy to the club and the Left Theatre Movement.
Waiting for Lefty was the club’s leading play presented at the David Lewis theatre over two nights in front of very enthusiastic audiences. Set in a New York taxi driver’s trade union hall, the play focuses on the question of strike action against corrupt union officials during the Great Depression, ending with a call to action. In true Unity style, the play featured exclamations from actors seated among spectators and encouraged engagement from the audience in a call for strike action. It was a roaring success, particularly thanks to the knowledge and performance of club member and labour activist, George Garrett, who spent time working with the Wobblies (Industrial Workers of the World) in America.
In December 1938, the club took their programme to the more traditional Chester Drama Festival, offering something very theatrically different and drawing in new audiences from trade unions and local labour parties. However, the night ended unexpectedly when, following a politically charged speech given by the club secretary about the theatre’s ideology, the curtain was abruptly lowered mid-way through their performance of Waiting for Lefty. The news made headlines across the country, and the ten actors were later fined in court when authorities ruled the play unlawful under the Theatres Act 1843. It became evident that a line in the script hadn’t been approved by the Lord Chamberlain, who up until 1968 had the power to ban plays that were deemed politically or morally unacceptable. This event did cause harm to the theatre movement but ultimately led to better organisation and examination of scripts by the Left Book Club Theatre Guild prior to issuing to regional groups.
On the eve of the Second World War, Merseyside Left Theatre Club turned its focus again to plays in defence of peace including Irwin Shaw’s Bury the Dead which they performed at the David Lewis Theatre in early 1939. This intensely emotional protest about the futility of war and lost futures triggered emotional responses from an audience still reeling from the news of Hitler’s invasion of Czechoslovakia on 15 March. After the outbreak of war, the club didn’t cease its activities, instead continuing to bring important political messages to local people insisting “progressive drama must not be a war casualty”. This was asserted through the anti-fascist play Till the Day I Die written by Clifford Odets concerning underground resistance in Nazi Germany. The script was initially heavily censored by the Lord Chamberlain in March 1939 in accordance with the British government’s policy of appeasement, but was later licenced in its original format allowing the club to stage the city’s first wartime amateur production in November 1939 (with an early start to allow the audience to leave before blackout).
In fact, despite the difficulties of wartime, the theatre managed to produce its most ambitious production The Dog Beneath the Skin written by Auden and Isherwood in 1940. In a letter of encouragement to the club Dame Sybil Thorndike wrote “I am glad you are doing The Dog Beneath the Skin. I congratulate you on your enterprise – do the best plays always, however ambitious the attempt – and something exciting is sure to best plays always, however ambitious the attempt – and something exciting is sure to happen”. Involving 14 scene changes and over 100 costumes it was their most spectacular production to date. Its success was thanks to the commitment of its members in promotion, ticket sales, and performances at a time when membership was reduced due to conscription. Further excellent wartime plays included the mass declamation Requiem by Ernst Toller, and a second comedy from Herbert Hodge in Strike Me Red.
In these early years Merseyside Left Theatre presented plays never before seen by Liverpool audiences. It acted boldly in bringing contemporary British and American theatre to local people and bore the consequences, demonstrating its steadfastness to working-class theatre.
