Theatre and ideology

the long version

In Theatre and Ideology, the theoretical and metaphorical possibilities of theatre are investigated by way of writings that both affirm and reject the presumed role of theatre in the representation of human experience. However, the bulk of the writers and movements seek to use theatre as a means to sociocultural and even psychological change. Among them are Adolphe Appia, Antonin Artaud, Bertolt Brecht, and the members of the Ghana National Theatre Movement. The fundamental character of representation, theatre, and ideology means that a great many concepts central to human thought and life are brought into the frame of this book. The nature of truth, culture and acculturation, alienation and disalienation, nationalism, secondary decolonization (as psychocultural disalienation), and the role of art and language in the process of change are all illuminated here. The specific context and material conditions under which these issues appear often lead to a new, or simply other way of seeing them.