Political Theatre Essay
‘Dismantling the traditional naturalistic theatre, with its illusion of reality, Brecht produced a new kind of drama based on a critique of the ideological assumptions of bourgeois theatre’. (Terry Eagleton, Marxism and Literary Criticism)
Referring to ONE play from the earlier part of the ‘Theatre & Politics’ section of the unit, and to ONE play from the ‘New Perspectives’ section, explain how the relationship between theatre and politics has evolved. In your response you should refer to specific examples from within the plays, and to at least TWO critical/theoretical readings from within the anthology.
The drama of revolution is a political text through and through, but it cannot separate the political from the theatre; the drama of revolution is in search of a form, a meta-theatre, in which the overcoming of an order is thus first and foremost the attempt to suspend the law of genre. This essay will examine the role and discourse of the theatre in Brecht, how the relationship between theatre and politics has evolved and look at two plays from the first half of the 20th century.
A term indicating theatre used for political purposes, commonly as part of a campaign or movement, and sometimes as part of the work of a political party. At its loosest, it can have a varied application ranging from community theatre to consciousness-raising by groups with a specific identity such as women’s, black or gay companies. Its usage is often inaccurate, overlapping with other terms like alternative, guerilla or radical theatre. Each country has its own tradition of political theatre. In the twentieth century the peaks of activity in the industrialized world coincided with two periods of social and political upheaval, the first and major one triggered by the Russian Revolution of 1917 and its aftermath, and the second coming in the 1960s and 1970s. (Chambers 2002) Common themes developed – for peace against war, for democracy and justice against exploitation and
Referring to ONE play from the earlier part of the ‘Theatre & Politics’ section of the unit, and to ONE play from the ‘New Perspectives’ section, explain how the relationship between theatre and politics has evolved. In your response you should refer to specific examples from within the plays, and to at least TWO critical/theoretical readings from within the anthology.
The drama of revolution is a political text through and through, but it cannot separate the political from the theatre; the drama of revolution is in search of a form, a meta-theatre, in which the overcoming of an order is thus first and foremost the attempt to suspend the law of genre. This essay will examine the role and discourse of the theatre in Brecht, how the relationship between theatre and politics has evolved and look at two plays from the first half of the 20th century.
A term indicating theatre used for political purposes, commonly as part of a campaign or movement, and sometimes as part of the work of a political party. At its loosest, it can have a varied application ranging from community theatre to consciousness-raising by groups with a specific identity such as women’s, black or gay companies. Its usage is often inaccurate, overlapping with other terms like alternative, guerilla or radical theatre. Each country has its own tradition of political theatre. In the twentieth century the peaks of activity in the industrialized world coincided with two periods of social and political upheaval, the first and major one triggered by the Russian Revolution of 1917 and its aftermath, and the second coming in the 1960s and 1970s. (Chambers 2002) Common themes developed – for peace against war, for democracy and justice against exploitation and