Performances

Sergeant Musgrave's Dance - John Arden

Arden is one of the English dramatists who revolted against the conformism of tradition and the priggishness of the English scene and society. His plays with a sarcastic and bold form and language satirize the established institutions, the superstitions, and the inhumanity of society and the world of the dead collide with the world of the alive. His most famous play is the 'Sergeant Musgrave's Dance', antiwar, set in the Crimea war. The myth takes place in a village of hungry coalminers in the Northern England, who go on strike asking for the amelioration of their situation. One day a sergeant and a group of deserter soldiers arrives in the village. The four men, victims of the English militarist ruling try to incite the indignant coalminers and to turn them against those who transform them in human rugs. The play deals with the problem of social change while at the same time talks about the handling of social struggles and the relation of pacifist sermons and violent reactions.