Arden, John

Arden, John (1930– ), English dramatist, who has been compared to Brecht in his preoccupation with moral and social problems and his use of historical themes to illuminate contemporary life. Large sections of his plays are in rhyming verse. Among his early plays, produced at the Royal Court Theatre, were Live like Pigs (1958), on the unsuccessful rehousing of a gipsy family; Serjeant Musgrave's Dance (1959; NY, 1966), an anti-military work which was a failure when first produced but is now widely recognized as an important contribution to modern drama; and The Happy Haven (1960; NY, 1967), set in an old people's home. In 1963 The Workhouse Donkey, a play on English provincial politics, was produced at Chichester, where Armstrong's Last Goodnight (based on a Scottish ballad, and first seen at the Citizens' Theatre in Glasgow in 1964) was also produced in 1965 with Albert Finney, subsequently going on to London. In the same year Left-Handed Liberty, written to celebrate the 750th anniversary of the sealing of the Magna Carta, was produced at the Mermaid Theatre. At Christmas 1967 a play for children, The Royal Pardon; or, The Soldier Who Became an Actor, a collaboration with his wife Margaretta D'Arcy, was given in London; but the outstanding result of their collaboration has so far been The Island of the Mighty (1972), a play based on the Arthurian legends. Its production by the RSC led to a violent disagreement with the authors, who have since worked only with small, non-professional groups. Their latest works are overtly Marxist and the poetic qualities of the earlier plays are less evident.