Politics, eh? I recall in 1979 there was a strike at the National Theatre by technicians over the effect on manning levels and wages of new technology and practices. The strike went on for some weeks and throughout that time, actors and musicians involved in NT productions carried on working - presumably, crossing picket lines in the process. One of the productions that was running during that period was Keith Dewhurst's adaptation of Flora Thompson's 'Lark Rise' which featured music by the Albion Band - featuring John Tams.

The strike was temporarily settled but flared up again the following year. This time the strikers were fired. The Cottesloe Company were again working at the theatre at the time. One of the actors, Peter Armitage, joined the strikers on the picket line but he was the only one. He lost his job as well and was virtually blacklisted in the acting profession for years afterwards while other members of the company - Tams included - went on to have successful careers.

You can read a fairly defensive account (ie from the point of those who continued working) of the dispute in Jack Shepherd and Keith Dewhurst's account of the work of the Cottesloe Company, 'Impossible Plays'.

It used to make me grin when John Tams released a solo album called 'Unity'.