The 1960s was a significant decade in social and political spheres in Britain, especially in the theatre. As certainties shifted and social divisions widened, a new generation of theatre makers arrived, ready to sweep away yesterday’s conventions and challenge the establishment. Focusing on plays we know, plays we have forgotten, and plays which were silenced forever, this book demonstrates the extent to which censorship shaped the theatre voices of the decade. The concluding part of Steve Nicholson’s four-volume analysis of British theatre censorship from 1900 until 1968, previously undocumented material from the Lord Chamberlain’s Correspondence Archives in the British Library and the Royal archives at Windsor are examined to describe the political and cultural implications of a powerful elite exerting pressure in an attempt to preserve the veneer of a polite, unquestioning society.

This work explores the portrayal of a range of topics in relation to censorship, including the First World War, race, contemporary and historical international conflicts, sexual freedom and morality, class, the monarchy and religion.

This is the second part of Steve Nicholson's three-volume analysis of British theatre censorship from 1900 until 1968. It covers the period from 1933 to 1952, and focuses on theatre censorship during the period before the outbreak of World War II, during the war itself and in the immediate post-war period.

Exposes the mechanisms by which conservative Christianity dominated British culture during 1945-65 and their subsequent collapse.

Essential for students of theatre studies, Methuen Drama's Decades of Modern British Playwriting series provides a comprehensive survey and study of the theatre produced in each decade from the 1950s to 2009 in six volumes. Each volume features a critical analysis and reevaluation of the work of four key playwrights from that decade authored by a team of experts, together with an extensive commentary on the period . The 1960s was a decade of seismic changes in British theatre as in society at large. This important new study in Methuen Drama's Decades of Modern British Playwriting series explores how theatre-makers responded to the changes in society. Together with a thorough survey of the theatrical activity of the decade it offers detailed reassessments of the work of four of the leading playwrights. The 1960s volume provides in-depth studies of the work of four of the major playwrights who came to prominence: Edward Bond (by Steve Nicholson), John Arden (Bill McDonnell), Harold Pinter (Jamie Andrews) and Alan Ayckbourn (Frances Babbage). It examines their work then, its legacy today, and how critical consensus has changed over time.