The New Theatre, formerly Workers' Art Club and New Theatre League, is a community theatre company in the Inner West Sydney suburb of Newtown, Australia. Its origins are in the international New Theatre movement of the 1920s, and it is the oldest theatre company in continuous production in New South Wales.
New Theatre in Australia was inspired by similar movements abroad: the Workers' Theatre Movement in the 1920s in the UK, and the New Theatre League[1][2] in the United States. They were all affiliated with the Communist Party, and the plays were in the agitprop style of theatre favoured by the Soviet Union. Themes usually related to the class struggle. Referred to as workers' theatre in the early days, groups subsequently formed in other cities around Australia, with Workers' Theatre Groups in Melbourne and Perth[3] and similar groups in Brisbane, Newcastle, and Adelaide. Some disbanded and then got re-established, but only Sydney's New Theatre still exists (as of 2022[update]).[1]
Themes explored in the productions were mostly related to exploitation of the working class, sexism, racism in Australia, and against war. It has been estimated that the total number of plays produced by all of the New Theatres was over 400.[1]
History
The Workers' Art Club[3] was established in July 1932, with George Finey as president. Its aims were reported as "to give the worker an opportunity of intellectual and cultural development free from financial embarrassment", presenting the arts in its diverse forms: "music, drawing, painting, literature, drama and craftsmanship, embracing practically every profession and trade in the community". It was then located at 273 Pitt Street, Sydney.[4]
The first play presented by the Club in 1932 was Pygmalion.[5] In November 1934, it staged a play called November, about the Russian Revolution, at premises at 36 Pitt Street.[6]
In 1936, Workers' Art Club became the New Theatre League[5][7] (NTL[8]) analogous to the newly-established New Theatre in Melbourne. Both theatres[9] staged first Clifford Odets' play Waiting for Lefty,[9] with the purpose of raising money for strikers,[10] to great acclaim. With the rise of Nazism in Germany, then prepared to stage his play Till the Day I Die.[9] After the German Consul General complained to the Commonwealth Government, the play was banned by Frank Chaffey, then Chief Secretary, but the theatre defied the ban and staged the play in private premises. Its slogan was then "Art is a weapon".[5] When the play moved to Melbourne's New Theatre, it proved hugely popular and attracted new adherents to the theatre.[10]
Prior to the war it staged performances with a pacifist message, but as it became inevitable, the theatre continued to stage performances through World War II, including taking performances to soldiers' camps. Its revue I'd Rather Be Left was a scathing attack on the "Phoney War", as it strived to make the war an anti-Fascist one.[5]
It started being known simply as the New Theatre during the early 1950s.[11][12] In the late 1950s, the theatre co-hosted the Mary Gilmore Award for the best new full-length play, along with the May Day Committees of Melbourne, Sydney and Newcastle.[13]
Locations
As the Workers' Art Club and New Theatre League, performances were staged at 36 Pitt Street from 1932 to 1943.[14]
From 1943 to 1953, the New Theatre League and then New Theatre had its home at 167 Castlereagh Street.[15]
Rented premises at 8 St Peters Lane in Darlinghurst was the theatre's home from 1963 to 1973,[10][18] when, after raising enough money to have its own theatre built, it moved to its current location at 542 King Street, Newtown.[10][19]
Today
The New Theatre in Sydney is the oldest theatre company in continuous production in New South Wales.[20]As of 2022[update] it is located at 542 King Street, Newtown.[21]
It relies on its performers, directors, designers, and crew working as volunteers.[22]
Productions
The following productions and performances have taken place in the past.[23]
↑ "Last chance to see Crucible". Tribune. No.1056. New South Wales, Australia. 2 July 1958. p.7. Retrieved 20 November 2022– via National Library of Australia.
1 2 3 4 "New Theatre on the move". Tribune. No.1784. New South Wales, Australia. 5 December 1972. p.11. Retrieved 20 November 2022– via National Library of Australia.
↑ "New Theatre Premiere". Tribune. No.584. New South Wales, Australia. 7 January 1950. p.6. Retrieved 20 November 2022– via National Library of Australia.
↑ "The good old 'New'". Tribune. No.2017. New South Wales, Australia. 28 September 1977. p.6. Retrieved 20 November 2022– via National Library of Australia.
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