This book offers a concise history of popular theatre since the early twentieth century. Using
key popular culture theories and critical perspectives Jason Price analyses popular theatres
across different cultural and political contexts drawing on a diverse range of international
artists and theatre-makers who have worked with popular forms including Vsevolod Meyerhold
Blue Blouse Bertolt Brecht Erwin Piscator the San Francisco Mime Troupe the Bread and
Puppet Theatre and more.As well as defining what 'popular' means in relation to performance and
the audiences who watch it the book considers some of the political frameworks and causes that
popular theatre has been placed in service of such as socialism the New Left and the gay
rights movement. It also addresses the uses of cabaret puppetry and circus outside their
native popular contexts examining the role they play in avant-garde and experimental theatre
practices. In doing so Price encourages readers to look beyond popular theatre as a simple
form of entertainment and to consider its potential as a form of political activism as a
community-builder and as a valuable tool for artistic experimentation.
