This volume initiates a long-overdue reassessment of mid-twentieth-century British theatre cultures.

List of illustrations; Notes on contributors; Introduction Maggie B. Gale; 1. Theatre and society: the Edwardian legacy, the First World War and the inter-war years Clive Barker; 2. Body parts: the success of the thriller in the inter-war years John Stokes; 3. When men were men and women were women John Deeney; 4. Girl crazy: musicals and revue between the wars James Ross Moore; 5. Errant nymphs: women and the inter-war theatre Maggie B. Gale; 6. Blood on the bright young things: Shakespeare in the 1930s Tony Howard; 7. The religion of socialism or a pleasant Sunday afternoon?: The ILP Arts Guild Ros Merkin; 8. Delving the levels of memory and dressing up in the past Mick Wallis; 9. The ghosts of war: stage ghosts and time slips as a response to war Clive Barker; Index.