Mass theatre in Interwar Europe

Ideological heterogeneity in mass plays in Flanders and the Netherlands.

In many European countries mass theatre was a widespread expression of

'community art' which became increasingly popular shortly before the First

World War. From Max Reinhardt's lavish open-air spectacles to socialist

workers' Laienspiel (lay theatre), theatre visionaries focused on ever larger

groups for entertainment as well as political agitation.

Despite wide research on the Soviet and German cases, examples from

the Low Countries have hardly been examined. However, mass plays in

Flanders and the Netherlands had a distinctive character, displaying an

ideological heterogeneity not seen elsewhere. 'Mass Theatre in Interwar

Europe' studies this peculiar phenomenon of the Low Countries in its European

context and sheds light on the broader framework of mass movements

in the inter-war period.