It would be simply impossible to gather from all the gushing press coverage last week about Corin Redgrave's Lear at Stratford what a truly terrifying influence he had in British theatrical circles for 20 years or more. As the most powerful member of the Trotskyite Workers Revolutionary Party within the actors union, Equity, he helped create political cells throughout the acting profession. Central to this was the nature of the WRP: it was less a conventional political movement than a fully-fledged cult, which monopolised the time, energy and financial resources of its members. At one level, the WRP was plain...