| Weapons of Happiness | |
|---|---|
 Cover of originalNational Theatre programme | |
| Written by | Howard Brenton |
| Directed by | David Hare |
| Date premiered | July 14, 1976 (1976-07-14) |
| Place premiered | National Theatre,London |
| Original language | English |
Weapons of Happiness is a 1976political play byHoward Brenton, about astrike in a London crisp factory. The play makes use of a dramaticconceit whereby the Czech communist cabinet ministerJosef Frank is imagined alive in the 1970s (in real life he was hanged in 1952), and his hallucinations of life inStalinistCzechoslovakia interweave with the main plot.
In an introduction to the play, Brenton wrote that he was "trying to write a kind ofJacobean play for our time, a 'Britishepic theatre'. Making only limited use ofnaturalism, the play features several long speeches; in the same introduction Brenton quotesJulie Covington, who appeared in the original production, as describing acting in it as being "like opening a furnace door - your time comes, you open the door and blaze, then shut it".[1]
The play was commissioned by theNational Theatre as part of a policy of staging new plays by leading authors in the company's newSouth Bank home.[2] At the time Brenton was aMarxist and seen as something of a polemicist;[3] however, in an interview withTheatre Quarterly from around the time the play was being written, he expressed dissatisfaction withfringe theatre - the context in which his plays had previously been seen - and a desire to reach the bigger audiences subsidised theatre companies would provide.[4] Furthermore, in the play's programme, Brenton disclaimed being a moralist.[5]
Weapons of Happiness became the first commissioned play to be performed at the reopened National Theatre when it premièred on the Lyttelton stage on 14 July 1976.[5] The cast includedGeoffrey Bateman asJoseph Stalin,Nick Brimble, Julie Covington,Frank Finlay as Josef Frank,Bernard Gallagher,Michael Medwin,William Russell andDerek Thompson. It was designed byHayden Griffin and directed byDavid Hare,[1] a collaborator of Brenton fromPortable Theatre Company and co-writer with him ofBrassneck andPravda, itself staged at the National. Given the subject of the play, it is ironic that its first production took place against the backdrop of the National Theatre itself undergoing a good deal of difficulties withtrade unions.[6]
While the play drew in a younger, more radical audience to the National Theatre,Peter Hall, the artistic director of the theatre, noted in his diary that thestage crew (many of whom were political) did not care for it, and that he was disappointed by the newspaper reviews.[7] However,Michael Coveney was enthusiastic, describing in theFinancial Times "highly charged scenes that speak directly about the quality of life inEngland today". The production ran for 41 performances,[5] andWeapons of Happiness went on to win theEvening Standard Award for Best Play.[1]
The play was sufficiently successful that after it opened Peter Hall asked Brenton for another, which would be the controversialThe Romans in Britain.[3]
Weapons of Happiness was revived at theFinborough Theatre in 2008. It received middling-to-good reviews, with the worst notices coming fromThe Times and theLondon Evening Standard.[8][9][10][11][12]