When The Romans in Britain, Howard Brenton's latest play, opened last October … it led to prodigious controversy, the greatest outpouring of comment and the most intense popular interest that British theater has engendered in years. The production was attacked and defended in Parliament and in the Press. Plainclothesmen attended to determine whether charges should be brought. Its merits were debated in the noble institution of the Times' letter page. Local politicians thundered their abuse, and the usual guardians of public virtue displayed their own by picketing outside the theater, and staging disruptive protests during performances inside. In short, we were all treated once more to Macaulay's oft-cited and long-running spectacle of the "British public in one of its periodic fits of morality." (p. 34)

In a number of areas the play, if not breaking much new ground, did at least manage to tread on some highly sensitive subjects. Imperialism...