1 What is Theatre?
Throughout this book, we consider philosophical problems that arise in
relation to theatre. The broad aim of this chapter is to answer the ques-
tion: what is theatre? Giving an answer–and looking at answers pro-
posed by others–helps us to understand what a broad range of activities
can be associated with‘theatre’. One way to answer our question would
be to say:‘there’s no single, useful definition; it’s the label for a loose,
rag-tag bundle of social and cultural practices that more or less began in
Ancient Greece but that had probably been going on long before in var-
ious different guises and under various different descriptions’. This is
perfectly true, even if exactly the same answer, word for word, could be
given for‘What is democracy?’,‘What is history’? and‘What is philoso-
phy?’, amongst other questions. The point, then, is to come up with
something a little more concrete than that, but that pays attention to the
enormous variety of things that have been and still are called‘theatre’.
We don’t need a watertight definition, but we do need something that will
carry us through the rest of the book. We’ll look at the question‘what is
theatre?’in three different ways. First, we examine the‘typical elements’of
a theatrical performance. Second, we look at some standard definitions of
theatre. Third, we look at theatre compared with other art forms. Finally,
we look at the relationship between play texts and theatrical performances.
Typical elements
One approach is to think about the typical elements of theatre. To call
these elements‘typical’is not to say that theatre is impossible without
them. Indeed, it quickly becomes clear that few, if any, of these elements
are really necessary for a theatrical performance. The idea, then, is both to
introduce what I take to be the typical elements of a theatrical performance
and to highlight the kinds of theatre that try to do without them.
If we write a list of the most common and frequently discussed ele-
ments of a theatrical performance, it might include some of the following:
a play text; characters and a plot; spoken words; a director; scenery and