Abstract
Long-established theatres like to accrue mythologies about themselves that can in time become a set of ethics that are consciously subscribed to. Ever since its first season in 1956, the English Stage Company (ESC) has considered itself to be a radical theatre on the basis of its promotion of work that broke away from existing norms as well as, in a wider context, its presenting itself as a theatre of social conscience, with a crusading and oppositional stance. George Devine, its first artistic director, put ethics at the forefront of the theatre’s identity in an often-quoted piece of advice:
You should choose your theatre like you choose a religion. Make sure you don’t get into the wrong temple. For me the theatre is really a religion or way of life. You must decide what you feel the world is about and what you want to say about it, so that everything in the theatre you work in is saying the same thing. […] A theatre must have a recognizable attitude. (qtd. in Browne, 1975, p. 10)
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© 2014 Graham Saunders
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Saunders, G. (2014). Kicking Tots and Revolutionary Trots: The English Stage Company Young People’s Theatre Scheme 1969–70. In: Aragay, M., Monforte, E. (eds) Ethical Speculations in Contemporary British Theatre. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137297570_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137297570_11
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