ABSTRACT
Live theatre's influence in the nation's social discourse, even in the television and digital ages, was surprisingly persistent and was evidenced in the way many of its more provocative moments were headlined in the news bulletins and papers. The production of The Ballygombeen Bequest by Margaretta D'Arcy and John Arden was brought to a swift and unceremonious end by a libel writ. Letters from the authors, from Trevor Nunn as artistic director of the RSC and others fizzed in the pages of The Times and The Guardian, and the Conservative MP for Stratford-upon-Avon resigned from the theatre board after Nunn had described the company as 'basically left-wing'. In 1986 the Royal Court accepted Jim Allan's play, Perdition for production, to be directed by perhaps Britain's greatest film director, Ken Loach. The events raised many issues about the rights of the author, freedom of speech, respect for minorities and minorities within minorities, not mention problems of generational misunderstanding and gender exploitation.
