Youth review Number 8 1940

This issue is the only one that the British Library holds. It looks more like an amateurish zine than anything else. It is on cheap paper and typescript rather than properly printed. But I suppose that was largely due to war restrictions than anything else. Issue 8 is the Special Film and Theatre issue. It features writers such as Graham Green, Norman Flowers, Sean O’Casey and Aldus Huxley. The next issue has an article by HG Wells, among others.

Beatrix writes, “Blackout in the Theatre”, a piece which laments the lack of theatre during the war, and the philosophy behind theatre at the time.

“At the outbreak of War all theatres and places of entertainment were closed by order of the government. At the same time the lights, not only of theatre-land but of the whole country, were extinguished and thousands of actors and theatre technicians were unemployed. In a few days most of them were wondering how to pay the rent and where the next meal was coming from. Three months have passed and they are still wondering. Charity amongst actors used to mean working for nothing for some "good cause. For actors themselves there is little charity and they are not accustomed to cry out for help.

The theatres can now open in the afternoons and they may stagger along in the evenings as well. But the black-out remains. The streets are so dark that a potential theatre goer is as likely to end down a man-hole as in a theatre seat. Going home he is as likely to be run over as picked up by the transport he is seeking. The managers see little reason and no profit in opening the theatre. Rents are still high. The population is dispersed. The one-time stall-holder has either been called up or is striking theatre of his luxury item list in order to face the new taxation. In any case to the majority of these the theatre has never been much more than a place in which to digest a large dinner.

The matinee public were derived chiefly from the suburbs and people on day-tickets from the country. The famous elderly ladies who came regularly to matinees for the more daring kinds of plays were now deep in their bomb proof shelters or chivvying evacuees.

Theatre-centres have never been established in working-class districts and theatre seats have never been within the means of working men. The few instances of theatres of this kind (the Old Vic in the old days and Unity Theatre in present times) have been entirely successful, but for most managers the profits are too small and for many actors the wages too low.  In recent years the policy of the Old Vic has undergone many changes. The one-time equally balanced permanent companies have gone. The average production and average performance have given place to alternate fire-works and fiascos. The visiting star, preferably cinema trained, has taken the place of the actor who patiently built up career and experience within those walls. The enthusiasm of the working classes and of the real theatre lovers of all classes has been exchanged for the problematic support of a cinema-fed public.

In the Unity Theatre the membership audience is treated to propaganda, satire, and class-struggle performed with moving sincerity by an admirable band of amateurs whose performance in other branches of acting, such as the romantic or poetic, would bring a blush to the cheek of a really skilled, self-respecting professional.  What can be done to save the English theatre from extinction? The war with its black-out is not the only reason for this sudden demise. It was tottering already, and a change to staggering will not keep it upright. The policy of underestimating the good sense of the public has at last resulted in the armed forces saying that the entertainment offered them is an insult to their intelligence.

For years "they" have said that "the public “do not want good plays. "They" have said that Shakespeare doesn't pay. When enormous losses have taken the place of enormous profits "they “have always blamed "the public".  What do "they" mean by "the public"? Not the lovers of good literature and good speech. Not the children of all ages who like a story clearly told and clearly heard and who derive pleasure from seeing life condensed and illuminated. Neither the people who have left the theatre in despair not those who have never had the theatre brought within their means or understanding. If these do not ensure enormous profits they will never cause great losses. They will not have to be tickled and tempted into the theatre by promises that they will not be made to think or feel.  For them no money need be spent on publicity scarcely fit for chain stores or breweries. London is not empty. The provinces are teeming, waiting for something vital and new. The black-out is not impenetrable.  The theatre that tottered yesterday, staggers today and it will surely fall down flat tomorrow.

Actors lost control of the theatre during the last war. If they do not regain control during this one and make some effort to turn evil into good, the theatre as a cultural force and as entertainment for the intelligent will cease to exist. They must shake themselves clear of the debris that fell upon them when the bricks and mortar collapsed and all that was left of the English Theatre came tumbling down during one great black-out. A war is being fought to preserve culture, and that means more than putting sand-bags round a few old monuments."

There are several interesting points raised in this piece, first that it is the Actors who are to take control of the theatre and bring change in it. This fits with Beatrix's ideas as she becomes president of equity.  The idea that it is the actors, not the producers who can make the change is interesting. At the time rent was high and the producers were in full control of what was being shown. Theatres were subject to their decisions of plays, and then those plays were still further censored by the Lord Chamberlin. 

The "they" referred to are the theatre owners and producers who are only interested in high profit. It is interesting to see such an us versus them laid out between actors and people who run the theatres. It is interesting to see her counter their arguments that people aren't interested in meaningful plays but only want to be entertained. I think this is proved by the types of plays that Beatrix had done at this point that were the biggest successes. Neither Mourning becomes Electra or They walk alone (the two she is credited for at the back of the publication) could be dismissed as light entertainment. These are clearly plays for people who love literature and "derive pleasure from seeing life condensed and illuminated". 

I am also intrigued by what happened in the last war and how Beatrix thought actors had lost control of it then. Two types of articles I need to search for are clearly British theatre in world wars one and two. Hopefully there will be things on Jstor. 

Likewise I need to follow up on the Unity theatre as I've never come across it before. It seems to be a theatre for the left wing politics, Beatrix's comments seem to indicate that she thought it was a good cause but that the amateurish acting was a detriment. I would be interested in investigating further if she did work with this theatre. 

It is also worth mentioning that at the beginning she spoke of how actors and crew members were going hungry; nothing had been done by the government to help those whose lives were being disrupted by the war. As someone who grew up very rich seeing the people she worked with going hungry must have strengthen her feelings of social justice and wanting to fight the inequality of social class.

It is interesting to read the different opinions of people who were working in the theatre at the time and how many saw it as so negative. 

Propaganda in the cinema by George Noble Looks at how Hollywood and the British cinema are controlled and what they produce, it is quite condemning and reflects with Beatrix's comments about film actors a rather low opinion of the media when compared with theatre. "For wall street dictates to Hollywood and similarly the British film industry is dependent for its very life blood upon the good will of City businessmen. Like the newspapers controlled by a group of irresponsible millionaires, the screen is fast becoming as powerful as the Press in formulating opinion and outlook along the lines indicated by the ruling class. The mass of film output today is composed of trite tales, fantastic success stories and artificial concoctions calculated to appeal to the wish-fulfilment ideas embedded in the minds of filmgoers. The cinema has developed into a dream world of escape from reality; a glorified opium palace where audiences are drugged with trashy sentiment, forgetting their own continual struggle as they gaze entranced at the antics of actors and actresses in unreal situations, obeying like puppets every pull on their strings....

Towards a new people's theatre by Herbert Marshall (who produced plays at the Unity Theatre and worked in the USSR) Looks at the limits of professional theatre when the actors are only brought together to produce one play and then disperse. "The job of the new theatre is to express the interests of the millions and not the millionaires, and to tap this vast audience. These people do the vital jobs of the world, and only they can bring vitality into the theatre. For their lives comes the real stuff of which drama is made. The plays of our new theatre must be chose from a universal repertoire. We must search the archive of the worlds' drama to find plays which have been written and deliberately ignored by press and critics because they offend the tastes and desires of the minority. Not forgetting the playwrights who themselves were censored  and exiled, from Euripides to Ibsen and the modern German, Jewish, Czech Italian and other artists ‘exiled from their native countries.

Finally, however much we lose ourselves in our theatre work, however much we concentrate on it, we must not be cut off from the outside world of human activity. Our actors must not take the artificial world of theatres, night clubs fiction and bohemianism to be their social activity. They must be in constant touch with other workers in every sphere. [Something that was brought about with the people's congress and the women's parliament] They will do this in studying their parts, by touring by social and cultural organisations and by personal relationships. They must hold discussions with their audiences and learn the point of view of the audience. In this way the interrelationship of actors and  audience and audience and actors will be strengthened and maintained. And when playwrights audience and actors are in accord great art is created and the electricity of human emotion and human thought flashes like lightening illuminating the whole world as never before.

A National Theatre when? By Sean O’Casey (who wrote the silver Tassie)

"What is the state doing for the theatre? Damn all!" He talks about how the government is giving no money to the theatre, compared with Ireland that does support the theatre. How the amount of money required is quite small compared with other output.  “A national theatre in London would mean, I'm sure, the creation of one in Wales , of one in Scotland and maybe one in Ulster to vie in a friendly way with her sister theatre in Dublin" - oh how that so didn't happen.  “A national theatre may mean something greater to England than her army with banners or without them. ...Well England when is it going to be done? Never- sometime next year- this year? Come along England, say when."

The role of the Unity theatre today by Roger Woddis.  

War is being waged. Rocketing prices, profiteering, attack on wages and democratic rights -the offensive has opened on the British people. Unity theatre has a part to play in that war. "Judging from the packed houses (over a thousand seats were sold before the opening date) we are not alone in thinking that democracy in inverted commas is not good enough."  Unity theatre is set up to help local theatre groups with supplies of advice. songs and sketches, through the Left Book Club Theatre Guild. (something else to look up). They also bring their rep to local communities. our policy may thus be summed up as follows -

1 To strengthen the theatre as a vital force in the social struggle and to ensure its continual growth by rooting it in the lives of the common people

2 to develop Unity Theatre as an organising centre for a national theatre movement

3 to establish a strong and lasting contact with local amateur groups and to assist them in their work by every means at our disposal.

4 to encourage and foster the work of new authors wiring for the social theatre.

Únity writers are at present working on a living newspaper dealing with the second imperialistic war. In addition, we have under consideration with a new social drama by Sean O’Casey ... and other famous plays. These we hope to add to our repertory in the near future. Meanwhile, Unity Theatre is on its toes, helping to bring nearer the day when the curtain will go up on the epic of a new world. On theatre stage the wicked uncles will have no place.

 I can't help but wonder if the Uncles there are a reference to the uncle that Beatrix described in the Our Time article. I think this must have been a common way to describe these people.

Propaganda in war time by Aldous Huxley, "On the outset of war it is as necessary to inflame public opinion into a stage of indignation and hatred of the enemy as it is to supply the fighting forces with ammunition.  ... The case against the enemy must be stated with complete bias and a suitable amount of exaggeration. Any arguments in support of the enemy's case must be suppressed. ... Faked photographs are useful and studios for the photography of hideous mutilations can be set up. This is an absolutely gorgeous piece of writing, with truth and bitterness. 

Trade unions in wartime by George Eyland  Condemns trade unions for abandoning workers rights during the war  

It is worth noting that Beatrix is only one of two women writers in this issue, when there are 13 men who contribute!