The Third Front. Political theatre: Erwin Piscator - ACE079.4

Caption: "From a provincial newspaper: ‘As far as can be judged from the outside, what seems to be taking place is a counter offensive of the idealistic elements which still exist within the Volksbühne who are now trying to free themselves from the embrace of the surrounding Jews.’" Commentary says that Piscator resigned from the Volksbühne. Piscator says the most important thing about his work is that it presents "solid proof that our philosophy is the one and only valid approach for our time … The way to do this is to show the link between events on the stage and the great forces active in history …". Shots of London’s South Bank arts complex and Houses of Parliament. Caption: "1927-28 Piscator’s own theatre."
Piscator talking about the contradictions inherent in financing his work: "It is not possible for a theatre that has to rely purely on a proletarian public to cover the costs of an evening’s performance." Caption: "Hoppla Wir Leben!" Man in theatre looking at pictures of the set for this production (description heard over) and talks about "making a deliberate casting error which effectively turned that role into a proletarian type" as a "way of avoiding the standard hero...". Caption: "‘Rasputin’." "Nineteen scenes were added to the author’s original eight…" and further description of the production and criticisms of it. Caption: "‘The adventures of the good soldier Schweik’." Photograph. VO saying they didn’t want to make the mistake of closing a popular production too soon as had previously happened. A second theatre was used for a new production. Caption: "‘Konjunktur’ by Leo Lania." "… the territory of international industrial politics … the position of the Soviet Union as a competitor in the international capitalist economy." Performance of song from Kurt Weill’s Öl-Musik. The production was revised to ensure a more obvious political standpoint.