Essay: Uncovering the Story Behind Theatre’s Licensing Act and Its Abolishment

What does it mean to have censorship? In theatre, the definition of censorship can be interpreted in several ways. However, in the early 1700’s, a theatre licencing act was passed where theatres could not perform plays with certain themes/topics or provide audiences with certain material items such as alcohol.
All productions were overseen by the Lord Chamberlain. This act received controversial reviews and back lash until it was repealed in the late 1900’s. Because of the repeal, plays with difficult subject matter began surfacing. Due to this, specifically after World War II, views of the world began to shift and change. Plays that were performed after the repeal were received differently than they would have been if they were put on while the Licensing Act was still in effect.
An example of a play that was produced after the repeal is Blasted, written by Sarah Kane. Kane depicts racism against immigrants as one of her themes. The play is extremely dark and audience members responded to it with a sense fury and shock due to its content. Critics called it straight up foul. They compared it to having their head held in a bucket of organs (Saunders).
Kane unfortunately committed suicide in 1999 due to mental health issues. Because of her mental health, she had a different point of view on the world which is what made Blasted so intriguing. The play includes themes such as dismemberment and sexual assault along with racism. However, there seemed to be a sense of satisfaction that was felt when audience members saw it. People seemed to appreciate being taken to Kane’s world and being able to follow such a genuine and authentic piece of material that other playwrights may not have explored before.
Kane chose to go to a place that few playwrights have gone before. She intended for the audience to feel a sense of humiliation by the end of the play. This was to ensure that they truly understood the lives that the characters were living and that their circumstances were a reality for some people. At its core, Blasted is a love story. It’s a toxic, horrible love story. The audience members are so engrossed in their feud that they become unaware of the subtle hints Kane gives about what is happening outside the hotel room that the play is set in.
Blasted is not as simple as it appears even though it can be seen going against most moral codes. Kane’s characters are complex, clashing and more specifically, human. Because of this, it appears to draw empathy for the characters out of those who read or see this play. The play forces people to imagine how people could get to the point where they behave like they are at war, even though it may be difficult to. Kane argues that the world her characters live in is not that far off from what is occuring in reality.
Blasted seemed to be a game changer because it went where not many plays would have dared to go before especially when the 1737 Licencing Act was in effect. The play is so compelling because it explores the horrors that the characters must face and represent an entire class of people who are more so like those in the middle class.
Kane’s characters have a sense of compassion for each other even though the world they live in is gruesome. The two men in the show share a sense of companionship because they find something they can relate to each other. The last moments of the play are made perfectly clear to audiences that Kane was still able to see the potential good in everyone and that she has not given up on hoping for a better life even though hers ended tragically. Blasted allowed people to have a glimmer of hope for a brighter future because it tackled multiple tough subject matters.
The second play that was performed after the licencing act was repealed was Mark Ravenhill’s Shopping and F**king. This play dives into the issues of culture and power of the people. Its goal is to shed light on resisting negative influences in society. Shopping and F**king puts emphasis on how “non important” influences should not impact society in order for people to live their lives the way they want to.
Ravenhill’s four main characters are pop stars and the show dives into their lives of buying, selling and stealing anything they can get their hands on, whether that is drugs, sex or food (Svich). Homelessness and poverty are important themes that would go against the Licencing Act if the show had been performed while the act was in effect. Shopping and F**king has dark humour; it shows the lives of people who are disconnected from themselves and from the already dysfunctional society they live in.
For quite some time, theatre makers struggled with reconciling while the Licencing Act was in effect. However, once the act was repealed, it was easier for playwrights to create art that embodied what they wanted to convey to actors and audiences. The 1737 Licensing Act allowed the Lord Chamberlain to have power over which plays to censor if he saw fit. He only gave licenses to theatres that had his seal of approval in London. The repeal explores what occured in theatres the legislation of the Licensing Act was discontinued.
During the time of the Licensing Act, actor/managers abandoned the idea of performing contemporary work and put more preference in performing plays that were set in the past (Liesenfeld). They were geared to perform, more specifically, Shakespeare. After this, actors obtained higher status and importance than playwrights themselves by this point.
Theatrical activity then began to grow outside of London. Minor theatres began to feel pressure to perform other works that would have been considered obscene by the Lord Chamberlain in and around London. Eventually, that pressure and pleas from companies led to the Licensing Act repeal. This allowed the theatres and upcoming new theatres to neglect the act in some ways, but minimal censorship was still upheld. Lastly, it is suggested that the 1737 Licensing Act still molds some characteristics of modern British theatre.
The Theatre Censorship Act of 1968 (1737 Licensing Act repeal) was debated over by the Cabinet and Parliament. The Censorship Act put an end to the Licencing Act and the Lord Chamberlain no longer had total control over what kinds of theatre was to be put on and/or seen in Britain (Megson).
This meant the end of punishments for theatres that committed a federal crime according to the Lord Chamberlain. Abortion became legalized. New medicines were being introduced to the public and homosexuality was being embraced. Because these topics were being discussed, it gave playwrights like Kane and Ravenhill a chance to write how they were truly feeling about the world and express the common person’s struggles with mental health, abuse ect.
Even though plays that had potential to go against government feelings and were banned by the Lord Chamberlain, playwrights knew how to edit their work to make their point come across to audiences correctly. Original drafts with the playwright’s notes on changes they made are inspiring to look at in order to give some context into what they were feeling and what was going on in the world around them at the time when their plays were written.
In conclusion, both of these plays would have been affected by the licencing/censorship act if they were performed at the time when it was in effect. Censorship was repealed due to the the influence of themes and topics that were within plays. It was almost a necessity for these difficulties subjects to be seen and talked about amongst audiences because they are extremely important in not only the people living during the repeal but in today’s society as well.