Overview
One evening in 1934, on the River Arno in Florence, an air
squadron, an infantry, a cavalry brigade, fifty trucks, four field and
machine gun batteries, ten field radio stations, and six photoelectric
units presented a piece of theatre. One of eleven extraordinary essays
in Theatre and War describes this mass spectacle in which two thousand
amateur actors performed before an audience of twenty thousand. The
authors of this volume assess the function of theatre in times of world
crisis, exploring themes of Fascist aesthetic propaganda in Italy and
Germany, of theatre re-education programmes in the Gulag's of Russia, of
cultural 'sustenance' for the troops at the front and interned German
refugees in the UK, and cabaret shows as a currency for survival in
Jewish concentration camps.
Of interest to students of cultural studies, theatre studies and
European history, as well as to the general reader fascinated by this
little-known aspect of the European scene during the 1930s and 1940s,
this book includes a wide range of diverse essays telling many
interesting stories. I was particularly fascinated by George W. Brandt's
first-hand account of his theatrical activities as a German internee in
Britain during the war, and Alexander Solzhenityn's tale, excerpted
from his famous 'The Gulag Archipelago', of amateur theatricals in
Stalin's labour-camps.