Encore

the most notable of the periodicals devoted to the theatre during the post-war decades. It was first published in 1954 by students of the Central College of Speech and Drama; Robert Pinker, Clive Goodwin, and Vanessa Redgrave were founding members of its editorial board. The magazine quickly attracted wide notice after it published Sean O'Casey's controversial treatment of Beckett's Waiting for Godot and was acclaimed by Kenneth Tynan in the Observer. In 1957 it became independent of the Central School under the management and patronage of Owen Hale. Encore energetically fostered the reputations of John Osborne, Arnold Wesker, Harold Pinter, John Arden, and other dramatists closely associated with the radical developments in British theatre during the late 1950s; in its commitment to the concept of socially concerned drama, it was equally vigorous in its denunciations of the commercial theatre of London's West End. First editions of numerous plays, including Pinter's The Birthday Party (1958) and Anne Jellicoe's The Knack (1962), were published by the magazine, which also ran a valuable series of interviews with many of the playwrights it supported. Charles Marowitz, Lindsay Anderson, Penelope Gilliatt, and Tom Milne were among the principal contributors. Encore campaigned for the foundation of a National Theatre and was outspoken against the Lord Chamberlain's power of censorship. Having substantially succeeded in its objective of establishing a new British drama, the journal declined and was absorbed by Plays and Players in 1965.