ABSTRACT
If Arden and D’Arcy returned from India ‘fully fledged revolutionaries’, there was a question of how – or whether – this would translate into theatre work. The question had an added urgency because in England the social and political changes noticed before they left were now accelerating. The biggest political and theatrical undertaking which Arden and D’Arcy were involved with in London at this time was Two Hundred Years of Labour History which was staged at the Alexandra Palace in February 1971 by the Socialist Labour League. Arden suggested structuring the show round a number of episodes to be played in more or less pantomime style, which would illustrate the growth of working class political consciousness and the changing tactics of the ruling class’s eternal struggle to hold what they had.
