Theatre in London

Russell Grant was able to give the class a very interesting and informative lecture about the history of British theatre. Unlike today, a couple of hundred years ago theatre was the mass media and what people wanted to see said alot of things about the people in any given time. Ceremonies, religion, culture, traditions, patriotism, and popular ideologies were all incorporated into theatrical works.

The theatre really came from ancient magical ceremonies done in certain places and at certain time because the people during those times believe that these ceremonies were absolutely necessary for their survival. After these magical ceremonies making the jump to religious ceremonies was not too far fetched. Churches and masses are nothing but theatre– a show with costumes and lines. Theatrical works where made to explain biblical stories and since people’s reactions were positive government used this to their advantage. The theatre became a huge weapon of mass distraction for the government. Theatre has been used to push a certain political agenda, to entertain people in times of war or economic depression or crisis, to entice other countries to join another cultures or religions, to teach people, or to punish people.

Theater was extremely important in any society. Language was formed and changed from the street up, which means that new words were coming from the streets and ending in famous important plays. More importantly plays use to be somewhere where you wanted to be seen. People would go hear a play not see a play while hoping they where being seen. With every play and every audience things were different because there was a connection between the actors and the audience. Lastly play were for all people both rich and poor. Today we have really moved away from these things but we still have plenty of distractions.

As a political science major to hear that the theatre was really used by the government to distract it’s people made me think alot about today. We may not go to plays, but that is because technology has changed but the idea is still the same. Important government people make speeches and promises to the people but we are being distracted by these speeches of a brighter future while the important decisions are being made behind closed doors.