ABSTRACT
Appia always insisted, throughout his creative life, that no art, least of all that of the theatre, could be adequately described or evaluated without constant reference to its ethical function and social context: to the manner in which it grew out of and, in turn, expanded the lives of those in contact with it. This principle, which provided the touchstone of Appia’s work – its point of vital connection with a reality from which predominantly theoretical investigations might otherwise have estranged it – took on increased significance in the last decade of his life. As the conditions and prospects of conventional theatre (even one reformed along the lines he had himself set out) interested him less, the potential role of new, hitherto unknown or only dimly conceived developments took ever greater hold upon his imagination. Technical advances, new art forms, new architecture and performance places, as well as a radically altered awareness of the nature and potential of art to enhance and fulfil human life – Appia’s thought reached out prophetically, and seems to encompass it all.
