5 - A humanist theatre, 1969–1975

Summary

I believe that the Court in the early seventies was primarily an aesthetic theatre, not a political one. And the reason why it then lost the loyalty of so many writers in the following years was because it finally refused to move into the field of English politics, although it was presenting excellent political work about the Third World. A direct confrontation finally occurred between those who wanted the Court to be a socialist theatre and those who wanted it to be a humanist theatre and, no question, the humanists won.

(David Hare, in Findlater, 142)

In 1969 Gaskill decided to take some leave to direct elsewhere. He omitted to consult the Council. Part annoyed and part ready to see Gaskill's leave become rather more permanent, Council rejected the idea of Jane Howell standing in for Gaskill and took the opportunity to bring Anthony Page in as a temporary replacement. He, in turn, as he had in 1964, invited Lindsay Anderson to join him. As Jocelyn Herbert tells it:

I suddenly discovered … that Bill was going away for six months abroad to do a show and I happened to see Robin and I asked did he know … and he didn't. Nobody knew and he was leaving Jane Howell to look after it all. Robin and the Council thought this wasn't a good idea.