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Unity Theatre. A brief insight …. Unity Theatre (one still exists) was part of a national theatre movement that once played an important role in the theatrical and political life of the UK. The Unity Theatre movement included 250 groups before the Second World War.
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Unity Theatre A brief insight …
Unity Theatre (one still exists) was part of a national theatre movement that once played an important role in the theatrical and political life of the UK. The Unity Theatre movement included 250 groups before the Second World War. • Unity Theatres aimed to make theatre accessible to 'the great mass of the people' both through production, acting, writing and as audience and to use theatre as a political instrument to bring 'new strength to the progressive struggle'.
After World War II, 50 branches were closely organised within the Unity Theatre Society Limited. The movement was largely amateur and sought to serve the broad labour movement. There were just two professional companies in London and Glasgow.
The Unity Theatres movement grew as a direct response to the theatre censorship being exercised as directed by the Lord Chamberlain. The theatres were in fact clubs which formed in large numbers all over the country. Plays had to be licensed and some Unity Theatre fell foul of the Lord Chamberlain more than once.
From 1737 until 1968, the Lord Chamberlain also had the role of licensor of plays. This role made the Lord Chamberlain effectively the official censor of theatrical performances, of the production content as well as for logistical matters.
The law required scripts to be submitted for approval. Formation of a theatre club normally allowed plays that had been banned for their language or subject matter to be performed under 'club' conditions.
One of the catalysts for a change in the law was the prosecution in 1965 of Edward Bond's play Saved, staged at the Royal Court Theatre under "club" auspices. In this play, a baby is stoned to death. Bond refused to remove this scene, stating it was integral to the meaning. The group performing this play was taken to court and found guilty. Laurence Olivier spoke passionately in court in their defence. • They continued to defy the censors and a year later, the law was changed.
The Unity Theatre movement, along with many theatre clubs, started to disappear with the abolition of licensing as mainstream theatres were more able to meet the demand for radical theatre.
Glasgow Unity Theatre was formed in 1941 from various amateur clubs in Glasgow - the Workers' Theatre Group, the Clarion Players, the Transport Players and the Glasgow Jewish Institute players. It was committed to a socialist viewpoint and it hoped to attract a working class audience.
In 1946 the Glasgow Unity Theatre began a run of The Gorbals Story, perhaps the most famous play about Glasgow ever written, at the Queen's Theatre; the play was seen by thousands before it finally reached London and was made into a film.
Glasgow Unity first performed Ena Lamont Stewart's Men Should Weep at the Athenaeum Theatre, Glasgow on 30 January 1947. They toured the play to Edinburgh and London with great success. Russell Hunter started his career with Glasgow Unity
After the war an attempt was made to form a professional company but financial difficulties drew this venture to a close. Glasgow Unity disbanded in 1951.
After the Glasgow Unity company closed in 1951, men Should Weep fell into obscurity until John McGrath staged a rewritten version for 7:84 (Scotland)'s 1982 Clydebuilt Season. The long absence of this play from the public arena is remarkable considering that it provided a major theatrical landmark for the representation of Scottish, class and gender identities.
