1 agitprop and workers’ theatre ian saville. 2 definitions: from lenin (what is to be done?) and...
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Agitprop and Workers’ Theatre
Ian Saville
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Definitions:• From Lenin (What is to be Done?) and
Plekhanov• Agitation:
1 idea to many – using emotional material to get people active
• Propaganda:Propagates an ideology – many ideas to a smaller number.Explaining the world in the light of ideas.
• Term “Agitprop” coined by Soviet CC in 1920s• Art as a weapon• Negative term?
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History of Agitprop• Developed in:• Russia• Germany• USA• Britain• Korea, France, Japan etc. etc
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Russia• Poster Art -
Mayakovsky• Meyerhold • Blue Blouse Movement• Literacy programmes –
living newspapers• Agit Trains (see video)• Mass spectacles (see
video)• Changes in the 1930s
–Socialist Realism Agitational poster by Mayakovsky
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Germany• The political background –
1918 uprisings and near revolution.• The theatrical background –
Antecedents in 19th CenturyExpressionist theatre: Buchner, Wedekind, Kaiser, Toller, early Brecht.
• Piscator – Red Revel Revue 1924.• Growth of Workers’ Theatre Troupes in
Weimar Republic – “The Red Megaphones”. See Film.
• Importance of professional theatre workers. Brecht, Piscator, Wolf etc. Brecht’s work with amateur groups in exile – Fear and Misery, How much is your Iron etc.
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Britain• Pre WW1 – Actresses’ Franchise League• 1926 Founding of Hackney Labour
Dramatic Group (later Hackney People’s Players, then Hackney group of the Workers’ Theatre Movement) – group stages adaptation of Tressell’s Ragged Trousered Philanthropists
• 1929 – 1933 Growth of Workers’ Theatre Movement. WTM affiliated to the International Union of Revolutionary Theatres.
• 1931 – Ewan MacColl forms Manchester Red Megaphones, tours shows to demonstrations in Manchester and Salford.
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Red Megaphones performing to a Mayday
demonstration in Preston, 1932
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Britain 2
• Weaknesses of British WTM –Artistic – Esp. lack of professionals(only Andre Van Gyseghem and a very few others)Political – Relationship to Labour Party
• Participated in International Olympiad, Moscow 1933 – by then political and artistic line was changing
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USA• Great Depression from 1929• Agitprop from the immigrant
communities – Proletbuehne• Michael Gold’s Strike• Langston Hughes• Eugene O’Neill• Group Theatre – Odets,
Theatre Union• 1935 – Federal Theater
Project (part of FDR’s Works Progress Administration) starts presenting Living Newspapers
• Involvement of Hallie Flanagan as director 1935-9
• Politics changes after 1946
Living Newspaper One Third of a Nation by Arthur Arent, presented by FTP
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AgitProp characteristics 1:• Politics is the purpose of theatre,
not its subject. Theatre is used as a means of organising.
• Theatre designed to appeal to the masses.
• But not “bringing art to the masses” as with ILP Theatre Guild or Volksbuhne
• Context: not in purpose-built theatres, but on the street, in meetings, at demonstrations
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AgitProp Characteristics 2• A propertyless theatre for the
propertyless class – theatre must be portable and easy to stage (nevertheless Piscator incorporated technical innovations.)
• Anti-naturalistic• Mass Speaking
SlogansEnd with demands
• Meerut
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15Meerut, by Charlie Mann.
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Agitprop Characteristics 3• Use of popular theatre forms:
Cartoon styleparodiesmusiccomedyBut some forms of popular culture could be frowned upon. (Music hall, Jazz)
• Action among the audience:Red Revel Revue,Blue BlouseStrike!Waiting for Lefty etc.Scottsboro Ltd
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The influence of Agitprop• Britain:
Unity TheatreTheatre Workshop (Ewan MacColl and Joan Littlewood)Radical Theatre of the 1960s and 1970s:
7:84CastRed LadderBroadsideSocialist
Magic?
•Modern West End: Billy Elliot
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Influences 2
• Via Brecht / Piscator etc. – much modern theatre
• African, S. American Theatre, theatre in middle east.
• Advertising?
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Conclusions
• Agitprop – positive or negative? Is it still useful?
• Theatre is assigned a role outside of art
• Incidentally: theatre creates a sense of community