Papers (20 minutes) and round-tables are invited for a 1-day conference on Friday 11 July 2025 at Wilton's Music Hall, London.

The conference aims to explore theatre in the 1920s across a spectrum of genres and locations. The focus is on theatre in a broad sense, encompassing a range of performance cultures and demonstrating some of the major ways in which theatre operated within the broader culture and society of the time.

Topics might include (but are not limited to):

The dramatic legacy of WWI

Different genres (e.g. melodramas, thrillers, comedies)

Individual plays

Variety

Avant garde theatre

Grand guignol

American imports

Pageants

Revue

Censorship

Individual playwrights both established voices and new ones e.g. Shaw;  Galsworthy; Coward, Dane and others.

Suburban or working-class theatre in or outside of London.

Repertory Theatres

Touring

Individual theatres and venues

The careers or impact of individual actors, “artistes” or “stars”.

Dance

Caberet

Singing

The survival of the actor manager (Du Maurier, Harvey, Benson, Cooper etc)

The threat of cinema.

Abstracts (400 words) sshould be submitted to the organiser Andrew Maunder by 1 March 2025. a.c.maunder@herts.ac.uk

Papers from independent scholars and postgraduate scholars are very welcome.