Early on in the first Thatcher term, one of her young Turk backbenchers announced that his mission in life was to eliminate all small touring theatre companies with the word ‘red’ in their title. In doing so, he acknowledged that in the 'seventies oppositional theatre had ceased to be constrained within theatre buildings (in the mid-'sixties, he'd have wanted to abolish all companies called ‘English’ working in theatres called ‘Court’).