ABSTRACT
Any well-rounded theory of the theatre must take account of how theatre relates to the forces of the outside world. In place of Freud's psychic models, he offers a theory of the human as a conglomerate of sub-individuals, each enacted by different aspects and apparatuses of power. As a practice of studying the relations between a society and its theatre, materialist theory is potentially useful for the understanding of any historical situation and could address the effect of a slave economy and the cloistering of women in the household on the theatre of ancient Athens. Post-colonial theory has arisen over the last fifty years in response to the developing relations of power and influence among the nations and peoples of the world. Unlike much postmodern theory, post-colonial theory often combines individual emotional commitment and outrage with a defiant optimism. Mixing different cultural dramatic traditions intercultural theatre and performance is a practice fraught with aesthetic and political pitfalls.
