Amateur theatre

Amateur theatre exists in a number of spontaneous forms in the free market industrialized countries, however, besides schools, they are often associated with confined living conditions from which diversion is required such as isolated or rural communities, samll towns and cities, military encampments, sanatoria and prisons. In Eastern Europe they are an apparatus of the state, created and exploited for ideaological purposes first, for diversion from harsh living conditions second, and only thirdly, for intrinsic artistic expression.