Good Nights Out: A History of Popular British Theatre 1940–2015

Description

London’s West End is a global success story, staging phenomenal hit shows that have delighted millions of spectators and generated billions of pounds in revenue. In Good Nights Out, Aleks Sierz provides a thematic survey of such popular theatre shows that were enormous commercial successes over the past 75 years. He argues that these outstanding hits have a lot to say about the collective cultural, social and political attitudes and aspirations of the country, and about how our national identity — and theatre’s role in creating it — has evolved over the decades. The book spans a range of work from almost forgotten plays, such as R. F. Delderfield’s Worm’s Eye View and Hugh Hastings’s Seagulls Over Sorrento, to well-known mega-hits, such as The Mousetrap and The Phantom of the Opera. Such popular work has tended to be undervalued by some critics and commentators mainly because it has not been thought to be a suitable subject for inclusion in the canon of English Literature. By contrast, Sierz demonstrates that genres such as the British musical, light comedy, sex farce or murder mystery are worth appreciating not only for their intrinsic theatrical qualities, but also as examples of the dream life of the British people. The book challenges the idea that mega-hits are merely escapist entertainments and instead shows how they contribute to the creation of powerful myths about our national life. The analysis of such shows also points towards the possibility of creating an alternative history of postwar British theatre. Cover page Halftitle page Series page Title page Copyright page Dedication Contents Acknowledgements A Note on Sources Introduction Research Method Numbers Game Popular Taste Affirmative Action Dream Life 1 War: Comic, Tragic and Nostalgic While the Sun Shines (1943) Worm’s Eye View (1945) Seagulls over Sorrento (1950) Reluctant Heroes (1950) War Horse (2007) 2 Crime: Classical, Farcical and Postmodern The Mousetrap (1952) Simple Spymen (1958) Sleuth (1970) The Business of Murder (1981) 3 Sex: Comic, Episodic and Ironic There’s a Girl in My Soup (1966) Pyjama Tops (1969) Oh! Calcutta! (1969) No Sex Please, We’re British (1971) 4 Family: Traditional, Redemptive and Fractured ‘Sailor, Beware!’ (1955) Spring and Port Wine (1965) Th e Man Most Likely To . . . (1968) The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (2012) 5 Class: Musical, Parodic and Political Charlie Girl (1965) Daisy Pulls It Off (1983) Blood Brothers (1983) Billy Elliot the Musical (2005) 6 History: Gothic, Edwardian and Pastiche The Phantom of the Opera (1986) The Woman in Black (1989) The 39 Steps (2006) One Man, Two Guvnors (2011) 7 Fantasy: Whimsy, Camp and Sci-fi Salad Days (1954) The Rocky Horror Show (1973) Return to the Forbidden Planet (1989) Matilda the Musical (2010) Conclusion: Dream Life of the British People Appendix 1: List of New Shows from 1940 Until the End of 2015 with More Th an 1,000 Performances (by Run Length) Appendix 2: List of New Shows from 1940 Until the End of 2015 with More Than 1,000 Performances (by Date) Notes Bibliography Index