Playing with the truth: the politics of theatre

Abstract

There's a long history of 'going too far' planted in the genetic code of drama. Defenders of theatre's freedom of expression point to its origins in fifth century BC Greece. Transgression, unmasking and excess were planted in theatre's very nature from the start. From its invention in ancient Greece--or more specifically, the democratic city of Athens--it has been the job, indeed the vocation, of playwrights to probe difficult and dangerous feelings, to explore the outcast, the pariah and the Other, and to follow the actions of the protagonists to the furthest extreme. Outrageous actions are the bread and butter of theatre, leading to tears or to laughter. Against this backdrop, it would be hard to overlook the basic conservatism of British theatre. In his now canonical book The Empty Space (1968), Peter Brook named four species of theatre in a famous taxonomy: The Deadly, The Holy, The Rough and The Immediate. His categories have not been outdated, nearly forty years later.