ABSTRACT
The writings of two philosophers — teacher and pupil — have shaped our politics, our religion, our art and our science. And although we should not flatter ourselves into thinking that either of them considered it the most important of topics, Plato and Aristotle both wrote about theatre. In many respects, their concerns set the tone for large parts of this book, whether we address them explicitly or not. I've already argued that it's not going to be possible to come up with a perfect definition of theatre. But when these two Greek philosophers tried to define it, they were quick to identify one word as central: mimesis. Apart from that, Plato and Aristotle agree upon little else. As we'll see, they don't even agree on what mimesis is, when it comes to theatre. But both agree that, where there's theatre, there's mimesis. Even before we acquaint ourselves with the various meanings of mimesis, we can get a sense of it by thinking about a typical theatrical performance. When you watch a play, actors dress up and speak like kings, sets make the stage look like Thebes or Verona. The whole play is an enacting, an acting out, an imitation (however inaccurate) of what the story might have looked like if (or when) it happened; and you, an audience member, are engaged in a kind of pretence that the story is unfolding before your very eyes. Each of these various activities could be described as mimesis. This chapter uses Plato and Aristotle to begin our analysis of philosophy and theatre. Through their opposing views about mimesis, we open up a much wider debate about what theatre is and what it can do.
