The
genre of
political theatre spurred by the
Vietnam War.
Protests occurred around the
globe as the war escalated in the mid-
1960s, proving that
isolationalism was no more and every
country and issue was deeply
connected. The "post-imperialist" age in which the war and arts were taking place created a ripe
environment for political theatre to
flourish.
In "Vietnam Protest Theatre: The television war on stage," Professor Nora Alter explores various examples of these plays and their cultural contexts, particularly from "England, Austria, Germany, and France, where plays about the Vietnam War often served as the occasion for critiques of these nations' current politics or their imperialist pasts."
Unfortunately, as with much political theatre, the "current event" nature of some of these plays, coupled with their radical content, made them quickly forgotten and abandoned by mainstream culture. Others, such as Hair, lived on as vivid examples of how art can touch universal nerves through charged moments in history.