Provides theoretical framework for important play-writing in Britain in the second half of the twentieth century.

Acknowledgements; Brief chronology, 1953¿1989; Introduction; Part I. Theory: 1. Strategies of political theatre: a theoretical overview; Part II. Two Model Strategies: 2. The 'reflectionist' strategy: 'kitchen sink' realism in Arnold Wesker's Roots (1959); 3. The 'interventionist' strategy: poetic politics in John Arden's Serjeant Musgrave's Dance (1959); Part III. The Reflectionist Strain: 4. The dialectics of comedy: Trevor Griffiths's Comedians (1975); 5. Appropriating middle-class comedy: Howard Barker's Stripwell (1975); 6. Staging the future: Howard Brenton's The Churchill Play (1974); Part IV. The Interventionist Strain: 7. Agit-prop revisited: John McGrath's The Cheviot, the Stag, and the Black, Black Oil (1973); 8. Brecht revisited: David Hare's Fanshen (1975); 9. Rewriting Shakespeare: Edward Bond's Lear (1971); 10. The strategy of play: Caryl Churchill's Cloud Nine (1979); Conclusion; Notes; Select bibliography; Index.