PAL SWATI: Look Back At Anger: Agit Prop Theatre in Britain

2008 marks 40 years of Red Ladder Theatre Company. In 1968, a large number of agit prop theatre companies mushroomed in Britain. The Agit Prop Street Players who later renamed themselves as Red Ladder was one. With time other theatre companies surrendered to and became part of theatre history. Not so Red Ladder. It has survived and it is now time for a reassessment. Is agit prop theatre dead or alive? How does such theatrical practice contribute to society/community? These are only some of the questions the book explores. It looks back at all the anger that led to the emergence of Red Ladder and how it surged ahead as a leading youth theatre company in a multicultural Britain of today. An analysis of the plays of Red Ladder, of their techniques of performance and production, an in-depth study of the changing artistic and other policies of the Company are some of the features of this book. The book‘s distinctiveness lies in the textual analysis of the plays and the investigative nature of the research undertaken. To anyone interested in theatre history, past and presently in the making, whether as a practitioner or for purely academic purposes, this book will be insightful.