Radical Theater Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Radical Theater - Research Paper Example For this reason, much of the theatre developed in this time period â€Å"represented the safe middle-class milieu and world-view aspirations of the audiences that would come to see them† (Batty, 2005). The purpose of theatre had been reduced to provide a rather thoughtless, structured evening of culture without the necessity of challenging beliefs or social norms. â€Å"They didn’t want anything else, they were perfectly happy to put their feet up. That was what going to the theatre was normally about, going and putting your feet up and just receive something, received ideas of what drama was, going through various procedures which were known to the audience. I think it was becoming a dead area† (Batty, 2005). At the same time, playwrights and producers had to be careful regarding the content and presentation of their material to be sure it fell within the strict regulations of the Lord Chamberlain’s office. This harsh environment saw the number of theatre s with permanent repertory companies fall from 96 to 55 between the years 1950 to 1955 (Clough, 2006). It was this constraining atmosphere that ironically gave birth to the radical theater movement brought forward by Peter Brook.