The poverty of political theatre in England is so great that almost any drama with political intimations gets welcomed as if it were the long-lost grandchild of Bertolt Brecht. It creates a real dilemma for those (like myself) who genuinely hanker for a piece of relevant theatre that isn't ideologically prepackaged and offensively 'all thought out', Weapons of Happiness is about political subjects but, if your definition of political art includes moral fair-play and aesthetic equilibrium, it is hard to clasp it to one's bosom as a 'political play'…. I expect a political play to be more than the dramatisation of an author's political loyalties. Left-wing propaganda with its heart-in-the-right-place is still propaganda and, as such, nullified as art—unless it transcends its own biases. Weapons of Happiness, during the course of its first act, tantalisingly leads one to expect it may do just that, but by the...