Theatre in a Time of War and Rebuilding: The Lane in Flux

This chapter examines the rebuilding of London theatre in the post-World War II era and the resulting influence on the Lane. The displacement of British musical theatre at the Lane was fuelled by the reception of popular American shows and the ambivalent critical response to Coward’s Pacific 1860. Although there were several American works performed throughout Britain in the postwar period, Irving Berlin’s This Is the Army (1942) exemplifies the nature of politics and theatre through its portrayal of military life and its extensive marketing. Its reception contextualizes the commercial and cultural challenges to both the Lane and British theatre as a whole. In an attempt to counteract this influence, Lane management gambled on Coward’s nostalgic operetta Pacific 1860 to reopen the theatre in 1946.