Unity Theatre, London

{{Short description|Former British theatre club}} {{Use dmy dates|date=March 2023}} {{Use British English|date=May 2015}} {{Infobox venue | name = Unity Theatre | image = Unity Theatre in 1971 with Declan Mulholland.jpg | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = Theatre in 1971, with Declan Mulholland | address = Goldington St | city = London | country = UK | designation = | architect = | owner = | tenant = | operator = | capacity = | type = | opened = | reopened = | years_active = 1936–1975 | rebuilt = | closed = 1975 | demolished = | other_names = | production = | current_use = Redeveloped for housing | website = }} '''Unity Theatre''' was a theatre club which existed between 1936-1994, and was initially based in St Judes Hall, Britannia Street, Somers Town, London, NW1. In 1937, it moved to a former chapel in Goldington Street, also in Somers Town, an area which is part of the present day London Borough of Camden. Although the theatre was destroyed by fire in 1975, productions continued sporadically until 1994, when the site was sold for social housing.<ref name=NYT>[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE2DB153EF93BA15752C0A966958260 "The View From Stage Left"] (review of ''The Story of Unity Theatre'' by Colin Chambers), ''The New York Times'', Section 7, p. 28, 28 January 1990. Retrieved 26 June 2007.</ref> Unity Mews is today on the site and a bronze plaque commemorates the theatre. It had links to the Left Book Club Theatre Guild and the Communist Party of Great Britain.<ref name=archive>[http://www.archiveshub.ac.uk/tour/unity.html Unity Theatre archive] accessed 11 May 2007</ref> By the end of the theatre's first decade, it had spawned 250 branches throughout Britain.<ref>Colin Chambers. ''The Story of Unity Theatre'' (1990).</ref>

==History== thumb|Theatre changing room, 1974 The theatre grew from the ''Workers' Theatre Movement'', formed in the East End of London.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.unitytheatre.org.uk/home1.htm |title=A brief history and traditions of Unity Theatre | access-date=26 June 2007}}</ref> This was an attempt to bring contemporary social and political issues to a working class audience; it introduced plays by, about and for workers. The company used agitprop theatre techniques to highlight the suffering of unemployment and hunger marches in the Great Depression and to challenge the rise of Nazism in Germany and Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists. They sought to show the republican struggle in Spain.<ref name=play>[http://www.peopleplayuk.org.uk/guided_tours/drama_tour/1900_1945/political_unity.php Theatre Museum on Unity Theatre] accessed 11 May 2007</ref>

The company was notable for pioneering new dramatic forms, such as company-devised documentary pieces, 'Living Newspapers' and satirical pantomimes, including ''Babes in the Wood'' (whose cast included Bill Owen, Mark Cheney, Vida Hope, Alfie Bass and Una Brandon-Jones).<ref name=unity/> Ann Davies appeared as Robin Hood (the Principal Boy) in a political version of the pantomime ''Babes in the Wood'' which lampooned Neville Chamberlain's appeasement policy and had her as saviour in a Russian uniform. The production ran for seven months and Montagu Slater credited the play with making real political change.<ref name="oo">{{Cite ODNB|url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/ref:odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-68985|title=Davies, Ann Lorraine [known as Ann Lindsay] (1914–1954), actress and translator|date=2004 |language=en|doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/68985|isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 |access-date=2019-04-15 |last1=Borg |first1=James M. }}</ref>

The theatre also created ''Plant In The Sun'' (starring Paul Robeson, along with Alfie Bass).<ref name=unity>[http://www.unitytheatre.org.uk/theatre.htm Unity Theatre website] accessed 11 May 2007</ref> The improvisational technique brought them into conflict with the Lord Chamberlain's Office, who retained the right to approve theatre scripts under the Theatres Act 1843. Nevertheless, the company managed to present important works throughout the 1930s, and audiences, suspicious of politics as usual, and tired of the light and fluffy entertainments designed for the upper classes, responded.<ref name=NYT/> There was a ban on theatre at the outbreak of war, but once lifted, the theatre remained active throughout World War II. The company also provided groups of entertainers to tour factories and air-raid shelters.<ref name=unity/>

In addition, there was an associated ''Unity Theatre School''. Unity was a volunteer theatre, neither fully amateur, nor professional (apart from a short-lived professional company founded in 1946 by Ted Willis) and loosely linked to a national network. By the outbreak of World War II, there were more than 250 branches throughout the country. The end of theatrical censorship in 1968 meant that mainstream theatre could perform more radical plays, and the movement fell into decline, with the London theatre closing after a fire in 1975.<ref name=unity/>

According to ''The New York Times'', "...it finally expired in 1983 because it represented a spirit of old-fashioned opposition and could not find its place in a more strident and increasingly prosperous age."<ref name=NYT/> Attempts were made to revive the theatre in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and for a while a studio theatre was created in Somers Town (in the space now occupied by Camden People's Theatre), but today, while the '''Unity Theatre Trust''' continues in London, only the Unity Theatre, Liverpool retains an active theatre under the Unity Theatre name.<ref name=archive/> However, Unity Theatre Cardiff has been in continuous existence since its formation in 1942. The company left the Unity Theatre movement in 1948, and was renamed Everyman Theatre Cardiff. Despite leaving the movement, the company continues to adhere to much of the Unity ethos, maintaining the original charitable objects.

==Notable writers actors and musicians== thumb|Music Hall performance, c. 1973. Actor/manager Ray Cross is second from left. Unity introduced new writers, both British and international, presenting ''Señora Carrara's Rifles'' (1938), the first Brecht play in Britain and premières of Clifford Odets's ''Waiting for Lefty'', Seán O'Casey's ''The Star Turns Red'' (1940), ''Strike'' and ''The Musical Adventures of Mr. Pickwick'' by Arnold Hinchliffe, and Jean-Paul Sartre's ''Nekrassov'' (1956).<ref name=play/> The theatre also helped popularise the plays of Maxim Gorky. British television writer Malcolm Hulke worked with the company during the 1950s and 60s.<ref>{{Cite web |date=17 March 2016 |title=Doctor Who and the Communist: The writing and politics of Malcolm Hulke {{!}} Fantasies of Possibility |url=https://fantasiesofpossibility.wordpress.com/2016/03/17/doctor-who-and-the-communist-the-work-and-politics-of-malcolm-hulke/ |access-date=2023-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200529022634/https://fantasiesofpossibility.wordpress.com/2016/03/17/doctor-who-and-the-communist-the-work-and-politics-of-malcolm-hulke/ |archive-date=29 May 2020 }}</ref>

Notable actors associated with Unity Theatre have included Alfie Bass, Una Brandon-Jones, Michael Gambon, Julian Glover, Jack Grossman, Harry Landis, Michael Redgrave, Herbert Lom, Vida Hope, Bob Hoskins, David Kossoff, Warren Mitchell, Bill Owen, who was then known as Bill Rowbotham, Eric Paice, actor-manager Hazel Vincent Wallace, Ted Willis and Roger Woddis.<ref name=unity/> During the war, Ann Davies became the theatre's first woman president.<ref name="oo"/>

Notable musicians associated with the theatre included Lionel Bart, composers Alan Bush, and Christian Darnton, conductor David Ellenberg, pianist James Gibb, baritone John Goss, piano duo Mary and Geraldine Peppin, and composer John Sykes.<ref>Letter from Andy Croft. '[https://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/aug/07/james-gibb Why James Gibb held auditions for the Communist party]', in ''The Guardian'', 7 August, 2013</ref> Bart's earliest contributions were lyrics for the revue ''Turn It Up''. Bart also wrote the lyrics for an agitprop version of ''Cinderella'' and also wrote a revue called ''Peacemeal'' and a play called ''Wally Pone'' for the group.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.nodanw.com/biographies/bart_lionel.htm |title=Information from the NODA website about Bart's involvement with the theatre | access-date=26 June 2007}}</ref>

==See also== *Jack Firestein *Heinz Bernard (theatre manager 1956–1964) ==References== {{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading== *Colin Chambers. ''The story of Unity Theatre'' (1990) * Malcolm Hulke. ''Here is drama: behind the scenes at Unity Theatre, London'' (1961)

==External links== *[http://www.everymantheatre.co.uk Everyman Theatre Cardiff] *[http://www.everymanfestival.co.uk Everyman Open Air Theatre Festival]  * [https://www.wcml.org.uk/our-collections/creativity-and-culture/drama-and-literature/london-unity-theatre/ 'London Unity Theatre', Working Class Movement Library] *[http://www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk/about-unity.html Information about the history of Unity Theatre] *[http://www.newstatesman.com/ Review of a film about the theatre] *[http://archives.lib.siu.edu/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=2083 Unity Theatre Records, 1931-1960] at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Special Collections Research Center *The records of the [http://archiveshub.ac.uk/data/gb71-thm/9 Unity Theatre Company] are held by the Victoria and Albert Museum Theatre and Performance Department. *[https://aspaceforus.club The People's Museum, Somers Town] holds a collection of programmes, posters and memorabilia. {{Authority control}} {{Coord |51|32|6|N|0|7|59|W|type:landmark_region:GB-CMD|display=title}}

Unity Theatre Unity Theatre Category:Theatres completed in 1936