Abstract

Waiting for Lefty, which was written by Clifford Odets during the Great Depression of the thirties, has become not only an emblematic play of Agitprop Theatre but also it proves to be an emotional and political catharsis on the part of the audience. Clifford Odets’ one-act play narrates the story of cabdrivers’ heart-rending economic situation and the series of actions, some of which are narrated in the form of flashbacks, which lead them to go on strike. Rejecting the conception, application and aesthetics of bourgeois theatre and backing its arguments for the instigation of primarily economic and social change by the aid of Agitprop features, Waiting for Lefty calls for mobilizing people by collective endeavor through the depiction of the dismal life conditions of the down-trodden people and corrupt union affairs. By presenting historical and cultural circumstances and perspective of weltanschauung which shape the play and drawing a theoretical synopsis for Waiting for Lefty, the study aims to display the agitprop features in one of the landmark play of American theatre.