The Shewing-up of Blanco Posnet

A sharp, witty drama unfolds as a parliamentary select committee summons the theatre’s most recognizable voices—playwrights, actors, critics, even a bishop—to answer for the nation’s stage censorship. The opening act turns the hearing into a lively courtroom, where each witness delivers flamboyant, often absurd justifications for their art while the censor’s logic spirals into bureaucratic nonsense. Through rapid dialogue and clever repartee, the piece sketches a vivid portrait of a system more interested in paperwork than performance.

The tone balances satire with earnest concern, letting the audience hear both the pomp of officialdom and the irrepressible spirit of the creative community. As the committee’s questions grow sharper, the witnesses’ defenses become increasingly humorous, exposing the contradictions at the heart of the censorship regime. By the end of the first act, listeners are left with a keen sense of how far the establishment will go to preserve its own authority, even as it inadvertently reveals its own folly.