Catalogue Number
NMLH.2004.29.61
Object Name
Pamphlet
Title
Theatre Union Theatre Of The People
Place
Manchester & Lancashire & England & UK; Spain; Germany
People
Jimmy Millar, Ewan Macoll, Joan Littlewood, H Collier, Ern Brooks, Barbara Niven
Events
War & Spanish Civil War; World War II
Date
1936
Creator(s) Description
In England, communist political theatre, called agit-prop, had its origins in Manchester in the years preceding World War II. Jimmy Miller, born in Salford in 1915, and later known as Ewan MacColl, was the moving force behind much of this along with the actress Joan Littlewood.
The culmination of their efforts was the company Theatre Union, established in 1936 in Manchester. It successfully staged a range of bold and innovative productions, much of it anti-Fascist. Their work continued during World War II. Theatre Union stated its aims in this pamphlet, which were: " ... to establish a complete theatre unit consisting of producers, actors, writers, artists and technicians. "
Two of its first Art directors, Ern Brooks and Barbara Niven, were to go on to be successful artists in their own right, well into the 1970s.
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