New York, 1937: a fearsome young actor-director named Orson Welles is at the helm of Project 891, one of the hundreds of theatre companies set up under Roosevelt's post-Depression work programme. The Federal Theatre Project, as it was known, was subsidised theatre on a scale now unimaginable in the US (and, in this time of savage cuts to arts funding, over here too). It was not to last.
By 1939, a combination of cutbacks and Republican resistance led to the FTP's closure: a tragedy that is foreshadowed in this excellent play by Canadian dramatist Jason Sherman, given its British premiere here by David Cottis's Instant Classics company.
Sherman's piece depicts the frustrated attempts by Project 891 to stage Marc Blitzstein's anti-capitalist musical, 'The Cradle Will Rock', in the face of fierce government and union opposition. At its best, Sherman's quickfire dialogue recalls the cocksure immediacy of David Mamet, and the production has a nice, film noir-ish feel. There are some assured performances, too: especially from Edward Elgood as a boyishly ruthless Welles; and Elizabeth Guterbock as both his long-suffering stage manager, Jean, and wife, Virginia.
So it's a shame that low production values (or just a low budget) leave the cast having to mime everything from smoking to shucking an oyster. Like Blitzstein's musical, this highly watchable production deserves a bigger venue and a bigger budget.