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Copyright

Mark O’Brien; John Cresswell;

Published On

2025-06-27

Page Range

pp. 1–12

Language

  • English

Print Length

12 pages

Telling the Story of the Peasants’ Revolt and Today’s ‘New Radical Theatre’

  • Mark O'Brien (contributions by)
  • John Cresswell (author)
Chapter of: When Katherine Brewed, a Play: Telling the Story of the Peasants’ Revolt and Today’s New Radical Theatre(pp. 1–12)
The English Peasants’ Revolt of 1381 was a momentous rising of the land-workers of England in the southern counties and beyond, that shook the social order and came close to toppling the monarchy. The issues were taxation to pay for war, the hypocrisy of the church and the terrible exploitation upon which the rich relied in the late fourteenth century.

Ever since the Rising the story has been told either in cautionary warning by representatives of the establishment or as inspiration for those who struggle for a fairer, safer and more just society. The Introduction of When Katherine Brewed traces the history of it’s telling down the ages, covering the chronicles immediately following that extraordinary summer, the story as it was told in the eras of the English Civil war and the French Revolution, the embracing of the memory of the Revolt by Chartist movement, the socialist histories of the Twentieth Century and the significance of the story today.

The Introduction also surveys the journey of radical and Left theatre since the 1930s, its proliferation in the 1960s, 1970s, and 19080s, through to the politically difficult years of the 1990s and 2000s. Despite the challenges it has faced radical and Left theatre survives, and continues to contribute to movements for social change and liberation and to the working class and trade union movement.

Contributors

Mark O'Brien

(contributions by)

Mark is a social researcher and socialist trade union activist based in Liverpool UK. He has authored historical publications covering labour and social movements. His books include Perish the Privileged Orders, a Socialist History of the Chartist Movement, When Adam Delved and Eve Span: A History of the Peasants' Revolt, and Just Managing? What it Means for the Families of Austerity Britain. With John Cresswell he was the recipient of an award from the US based International Herbert Marcuse Society in 2023 for his work in political theatre ... "... at the intersection of the arts and Marcuse's Great Refusal, as a consciousness-raising and labor education theater project in support of labor/community solidarity amidst the current wave of nationwide strikes by students and professors at universities and by workers in other industries across Britain." Presently Mark is working on a book about Marxism and the mind, called The Historical Mind (working title).

John Cresswell

(author)

BA Drama and Theatre Studies (Kent University), Post Graduate Certificate of Education (Jordanhill College, Glasgow) and Post Graduate Diploma in Educational Theatre (Central School of Speech and Drama, London). Devisor, performer and writer for Out of Order theatre company touring English Language theatre in East Germany. Actor/teacher with theatreactive educational theatre company - devising, performing and facilitating interactive programmes also devisor/writer/director of touring primary school educational plays. In collaboration with Burnt Mill Arts Academy, its feeder primaries and other community arts groups - devisor, writer and director of several large-scale community plays. He has written four young adult novels and in collaboration with Mark O’Brien, devised, scripted and directed When Katherine Brewed.