Theatres of Conscience
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
Theatre Workshop
, the
Pilgrim Players
Adelphi Players
Compass Players
and the
Century Theatre
represent a significant but rather overlooked phase in the development of twentieth-century British theatre.