ABSTRACT
In his excellent book Performing History: Theatrical Representations of the Past in Contemporary Theatre, Freddie Rokem (2000) argues that the theatre allows ‘the dead heroes from the past to reappear’ in front of contemporary audiences (2000: 6). Rokem cites the opening scene of Shakespeare’s Hamlet in his analysis of performing history, noting that one of the first lines is, ‘What, has this thing appeared again tonight?’ (6)1
Rokem contends that this line is not only indicative of the ghost manifesting again in the world of the play, but also indicative of the nature of theatre, in which ‘this thing’ (i.e. the play, or the character, or the events, etc.) appears every night on stage, a metatheatrical reference to the fact that ‘repressed ghostly figures and events from that (‘real’) historical past can (re)appear on the stage and in theatrical performances’ (6). In other words, the stage becomes a site by which history can literally be staged. History can be re-enacted or performed again.
