Theatre of Conscience 1939-53

<p><em>Theatres of Conscience</em> offers an invaluable and essential insight into four touring British theatre companies whose work and contributions to post-war British theatre have largely gone unnoticed. Combining a rigorous scholarly evaluation of their work and their broadly ideological and ethical contribution to wider post-war developments in British theatre. Peter Billingham offers the reader a unique insight into four companies which motivated by enthusiasm principles and creative innovation sought to take the theatre of conscience to theatre-less communities in wartime Britain and during the following decade. Contemporaries of - amongst others - Joan Littlewood's <em>Theatre Workshop</em> the <em>Pilgrim Players</em> the <em>Adelphi Players</em> the <em>Compass Players</em> and the <em>Century Theatre</em> represent a significant but rather overlooked phase in the development of twentieth-century British theatre.</p>