Philip Purser, in his obituary of Warren Mitchell (16 November), surprisingly made no mention of Unity Theatre as a formative experience. Mitchell, along with other household names like Alfie Bass, Harry Landis, Lionel Bart, Bob Hoskins and Bill Owen all cut their thespian teeth at Unity, performing alongside amateurs for mainly working-class audiences from London’s East End. As it was very much a communist-run enterprise, Unity was also where such actors got their politics, and Warren Mitchell remained a life-long socialist, as did most of the others.
Jon Green
London
Very little has been said about Warren Mitchell the socialist. • While studying at Rada, Warren Mitchell played in several shows at Unity Theatre. In 1948 Six Men of Dorset, the story of the Tolpuddle martyrs; in 1949 a six-month run of The Ragged-Trousered Philanthropists and a political review where he was praised by Beverly Baxter, the Evening Standard drama critic, for his satirical performance of Clement Attlee. He said later that he was learning very little at Rada in the daytime, but was learning a great deal at Unity Theatre in the evening. This, he said, was the beginning of his political education which continued throughout his life.
Harry Landis
London
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