ABSTRACT
Though, as we have seen in the foregoing pages, a considerable number of plays by dramatists under forty have been produced, one way or another, since 1956, their position as part of the ordinary life of the commercial theatre remains unsettled. These have been the big successes – Look Back in Anger, The Entertainer, The Caretaker – and many of the productions have at least covered their costs, if not a little more. On the other hand, a number of dramatists, Arden being the most obvious example, have not yet won through to any sort of success with the public at all, and when an example of the new drama fails, it is all too easy to blame the failure on its newness. Not, of course, that the old drama has shown itself much more reliable: when even Rattigan can produce a disaster taken off after four performances we might fairly suppose that nothing in this world is certain, and Michael Codron, the most enterprising of our commercial managers, ruefully admits that he has had his biggest hits with those he least expected, while on the whole he has lost most money on the obviously ‘safe’ commercial ventures. But, be that as it may, ‘the new drama’ is a label which can easily be called in evidence against its (probably unwilling) owner; if his play does not do well, there must be some reason, and those nearest to hand will certainly be ‘The public isn’t ready for it’, ‘The public doesn’t like all this gloom and mystification’, ‘The public just wants a good traditional laugh or cry with no complications’.
