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In 1966, at the height of the Vietnam war, the Royal Shakespeare Company staged a play, US, at the Aldwych Theatre in London that became a part of the protest movement. Peter Brook's production involved the pacifist poet Adrian Mitchell, a fine cast (including Glenda Jackson), much documentary reportage, improvisation, songs, speeches and a history of Vietnam in tableaux vivants. At the end, an actor opened a box, took out a white butterfly and threw it in the air. Then he extracted and released a second butterfly. He held a third in one hand while he produced a cigarette lighter with the other. He burned the butterfly (it was made of paper). The house lights came up and an embarrassing, extended pause ensued while the actors waited for the audience to leave the theatre. Kenneth Tynan punctured the stony silence by shouting at the mournfully immobile actors, "Do we applaud you, or do you applaud us?"
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