Why does the idea of political theatre scare off so many people? “Perhaps the problem is the very term ‘political’: most often it is used to mean theatre with a left-wing axe to grind. So, among other things, the question carries with it a hackle-raising, almost indiscernible whiff of red-baiting: ‘Are you now or have you ever been a member of the…?’ Added to this, there is the fairly mainstream notion that ideas and political theory are limiting for writers, if not downright hostile to talent and the ‘real’, and that truth springs from the individual, unencumbered by the blinkers of politicking.”