Theatres for the People
It is unbelievable that after the war the present or any other British Government will fail to pursue its profitable war-time experi- ment•in helping C.E.M.A. (the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts). In the case of drama, it has been found that with organisation and a very modest expenditure of money the best plays can be successfully introduced to provincial audiences hitherto almost unacquainted with serious drama. It is with this background of war-time experience that a " Civic Theatre Scheme " has just been submitted to the Prime Minister and the President of the Board of Education by British Actors' Equity Association and twenty-five signatories, who include the Archbishop of Canterbury and Mr. Bernard Shaw. Briefly, it is a scheme for enabling every considerable town in the country to have its own Civic Theatre and its own company producing plays on the repertory system under a Local Trust approved by a Central Civic Theatre Council, expenses being guaranteed as to 5o per cent, by the Government and 5o per cent, by local voluntary subscriptions or the local authority. The opportunity of the period of reconstruction must not be lost. It would be a grievous reproach to our democracy if the State did nothing to encourage the movement for bringing dramatic art to the people—who have to an amazing degree in the last two years proved their desire to receive it.
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