Theatricality and Antitheatricality

The theater has never had a comfortable existence. Its detractors fall primarily into the Platonic camp, claiming that theater is mimesis, mimicry not reality, and by default is morally dangerous. Theater's supporters, on the other hand, follow Aristotle, and claim that theater is catharsis, a prompting of emotions to allow for release, a form of untruth that allows for truth to be uncovered. In this course, we will unpack the nuances of the anti-theatricality debates of late sixteenth and seventeenth century England, an era of constant threat to the theater. In addition to Plato, Aristotle, and Horace, we will be reading Philip Sidney, William Shakespeare, Thomas Heywood, William Prynne, John Milton, William Davenant, John Dryden, Thomas Rymer, and John Vanbrugh. We will focus on the theater's deep yet complex relationship to politics in this period, including the appropriation of theater for royal and imperial propaganda.