In 1899 the Stage Society was founded with the aim of supporting a theatre of ideas. Frustrated with the conservative nature of more commercial theatre it presented
private Sunday performances of experimental plays that had not be granted licences by the Lord Chamberlain. After a police raid on their first production (Bernard
Shaw’s
You Never Can Tell) it was argued that because these were private performances the Lord Chamberlain’s restrictions on Sunday performances and licensed plays
were not applicable.
The Stage Society won the case and other ‘club’ theatres opened with members paying a small subscription rather than an entrance fee. Because these were private
performances plays successfully evaded the Lord Chamberlain’s censorship. These theatres became the home of unlicensed experimental and controversial plays; a situation
that lasted until 1968 when censorship was overturned. Some of these plays eventually transferred to the West End and received licenses.
The Arts Theatre
The Arts Theatre opened as a club theatre in 1927 and quickly developed a reputation for innovative and exciting work. Plays by French
and German writers such as Racine and Goethe were staged there as well as new writing from British playwrights. Actors such as John Gielgud and Sybil Thorndike
worked
at the Arts Theatre even when they were well known in the West End – such was their commitment to presenting more experimental work. Alec Clunes (Martin Clunes’ father)
took over the Arts Theatre in 1946 declaring that there was an audience for intelligent and entertaining plays, and denouncing the dullness of the West End drawing-room
play.
In the 1950s the young Peter Brook directed Alec Guinness at the Arts Theatre and Peter Hall
established his reputation as one of the country’s
leading young directors with productions of Pirandello, Ionesco, and Beckett’s Waiting for Godot.
When the Lord Chamberlain’s censorship was abolished in 1968 club theatres were no longer needed. However the tradition of smaller fringe theatres promoting new and
experimental work is still very much alive today. Theatres such as the Gate and the Soho in London and the Traverse Theatre in Edinburgh promote new writing, new directors
and new companies and the West End still benefits from the innovative work at these spaces.
Introduction
Granville Barker
