New foreign plays were in high demand. The majority were comedies, acquired primarily from Berlin and Paris. As was the fashion in light-hearted programming, they were drawing room plays, where the action took place in much finer circles than those familiar to the majority of audience members. The actresses playing female roles required an abundance of elegant gowns, which they had to pay for out of their own pockets. The boutiques of Viipuri gave them credit; the actors were, after all, celebrities and walking mannequins both on stage and off. Foreign comedies arrived in Viipuri rapidly following their international premieres. The programming offered clever, psychologically suspenseful set-ups aplenty, but the great political issues of the decade (fascism vs communism, democracy vs dictatorship, capitalism vs the popular front) received little attention. When political and social issues were tackled (the István Mihály play Belá, Who Is 26; the Elmer Rice play We the People), the theatre was immediately accused of leftist propaganda.