It has become a commonplace in many critical studies to speak of a growing convergence between philosophy and theatre. Over the course of the last century and a half, philosophy has become increasingly invested in interrogating issues of the stage, with contemporary thinkers like Alain Badiou, Jacques Derrida, Peter Sloterdijk, and Gilles Deleuze turning to the playhouse for questions or importing into their own work a consciously “theatrical” style. Likewise, drama has become increasingly interested in exploring issues taken up by contemporary philosophers and deploying philosophical language to its own devices, from George Bernard Shaw’s Nietzschean postulations to Tony Kushner’s indebtedness to Walter Benjamin to Tom Stoppard’s ongoing engagement with philosophers past and present. In this course, we will examine several key points of intersection between the institutions of philosophy and the theatre to better understand what each intellectual approach takes from the other, where they talk past one another, and where we might locate true synergies of thought or expression. Rather than attempting a broad sample of all the theatrical-philosophical interactions of the last century, the course will be organized thematically, with four distinct segments devoted to a specific way of looking at the interplay of philosophers and theater-makers.
For the first half of the course, we will look specifically at philosophers or playwrights writing on or in the other’s discipline, with themed segments on “Philosophers Writing on the Theatre” and “Playwrights Writing on Philosophy.” Key questions to interrogate here include how practitioners of one subject view the practices of the other, what philosophy thinks it has to say to the theatre, and what the theatre thinks it can tell philosophy. The second half of the course will look at how philosophers and theatre-makers import each others’ techniques or subjects into their own works, with themed segments on “Theatrically-Informed Philosophy” and “Philosophically-Informed Theatre.” Here we will investigate how an interest in each others’ discipline transforms the stylistics, the intellectual assumptions, and the core matters of concern in works of philosophy or the theatre, examining what is gained in the exchange and what, if anything, is lost.
The course will assume no prior training in philosophy. Though the subjects of our inquiry will be targeted, taken together they will offer students a broad introduction to some of the major trends and themes in twentieth-century philosophy and literary theory and a chance to engage with some of the century’s most pivotal playwrights. In total, students will gain an appreciation for the manifold ways in which this ongoing exchange between two very different means of inquiry and communication has manifested itself over the last century and a half and how each subject has been changed by the encounter.
Requirements
Course requirements include participation in class discussions, an oral presentation, and a final paper. Participation in class discussions will consist of active engagement in classroom exchanges and will count for 15% of the final grade. Each student will be required to prepare a 10-minute oral presentation for the class on a course reading of their choosing, which will count for 15% of the final grade. Each student will also be required to complete an 18-20 page final paper on a topic of their choosing, which will count for 70% of the final grade.
Readings
Course readings are organized thematically into four units. For “Philosophers Writing on the Theatre”: Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy; Alain Badiou, A Theatre Without Theatre; Jacques Derrida, “The Theatre of Cruelty and the Closure of Representation.” For “Playwrights Writing on Philosophy”: George Bernard Shaw, The Quintessence of Ibsenism; Richard Schechner, The End of Humanism; Tony Kushner, Thinking about the Longstanding Problems of Virtue and Happiness. For “Theatrically-Informed Philosophy”: Peter Sloterdijk, Thinker on Stage; Gilles Deleuze, Difference and Repetition; Judith Butler, Antigone’s Claim. For “Philosophically-Informed Theatre”: George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman; Jean-Paul Sartre, No Exit; Tom Stoppard, Jumpers; Caryl Churchill, Softcops; Tony Kushner, Angels in America; Yasmina Reza, Art.
