Cold War Theatre

This book offers a brief history of modern theatre set within the context of the Cold War. The author, currently President of the International Association of Theatre Critics, describes the political and theatrical developments in Eastern and Western countries, from 1950 to the deposition of President Gorbachev in August 1991. He argues that there was a two-way relationship between the cultures and ideologies of the time, each influencing the other. There are sections on Arthur Miller, H.B. Beaumont, Bertolt Brecht, J.P. Sartre, Samuel Beckett, Laurence Olivier, Yuir Lyubimov, Peter Brook, Peter Stein and Stephen Sondheim; and among the politicians, George Kennan, Margaret Thatcher and Mikhail Gorbachev. Elsom provides a narrative flow which connects the turbulent events and offers a critical assessment of the period's theatre.