ABSTRACT
In 1971, together with her husband, playwright John McGrath, and other colleagues, Scottish actress and writer Elizabeth MacLennan (1938–2015) co-founded the left-wing, agit-prop and anti-establishment theatre company 7.84. At a time of political turbulence and optimism inspired by the revolutionary spirit of the late 1960s, the company's mission was to bring politically engaged performances to working-class audiences all over Britain. Even after 7:84 broke up, MacLennan continued acting, writing, and defending her idea that theatre should reach everyone and everywhere because she strongly believed that it could change society. In 1990, she published The Moon Belongs to Everyone: Making Theatre with 7:84, a major work of theatrical criticism about contemporary popular theatre and its radical, experimental modes of performance, both inside Scotland and beyond. In this book, MacLennan reveals the staple ingredients of “popular theatre”: the audience's direct involvement through the breaking of the fourth wall; anti-conventional methods of acting and performing; preservation of cultural roots; transgression of generic boundaries; amalgam of music and comedy; and political engagement.
