Lessons from Post-War British Dissent: Social Anxieties and Responses in Howard Brenton’s Plays

Abstract

Post-war British theatre has seen waves of dissenting voices that were often attributed to the political and economic turmoil that Britain underwent during this period and the resultant social anxieties. As Michael Billington remarked, “The story of post-war Britain is one of imperial decline…economic uncertainty, social tension, and agonizing introspection….” (ix).

Some critics have seen three critical points in post-war Britain as watersheds in the history of political theatre in Britain. The year 1956, when Britain had to retreat ignominiously from its internationally and internally deplored attack on Egypt to regain control over Suez canal; 1968 when American students violently opposed Vietnam War, there were student uprisings all over Europe, and Soviets invaded Czechoslovakia; and 1979 when Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government came to power initiating unambiguous neo-liberal policies and embracing free market economy (Brandt 101, Day 2).