Dramatic disillusion: the politics of First World War drama

The politics of First World War drama

Have you ever wondered why less is known about British drama than poetry and fiction from the First World War? Helen Brooks reports on recent rediscoveries of theatrical responses to the conflict, and explores the wider context in which plays were written and performed

Journey’s End was written ten years after the First World War, at a time when attitudes towards the war were already changing

AQA (A): Paper 2 World War I and its aftermath’

If you had read The Times newspaper one week after the First World War had ended, you would have found an intriguing article called ‘Peace and the Theatre: The Outlook for the Future’ (18 November 1918). The article praises theatres for their hard work during the war. Readers are told that theatre has ‘done its duty to the public’ in three key ways: sending actors to fight in the army, raising money for charitable causes, and keeping up the morale of the nation. In acknowledging the wartime efforts of theatres, The Times was voicing popular opinion. Throughout and immediately following the Great War, theatres were widely praised for their patriotic efforts.