Stage vs. State: Do Theater and Politics Go Together?

Theater and politics in ancient Greece

In ancient Greece, theater served as political discourse—and in fact, attending theatrical performances was considered a civic duty. Sophocles’ “Antigone” was a rallying cry against state authority: Many scholars argue that both the characters of Oedipus and the tyrannical king Creon were inspired by Sophocles’ contemporary and fellow statesman, Pericles. Similarly, Euripides’ tragedies frequently challenged Athenian imperialism, and Aristophanes’ Old Comedy satires were like watching a very old-school John Oliver.

This is also reflected in contemporaneous literature analyzing theater. In Book IV of Plato’s “Republic,” the foundational thinker explicitly claimed that art has the dangerous power to effect political change. “Any musical innovation is full of danger to the whole state,” he wrote, continuing to argue that the arts, if allowed a “spirit of license,” have the power to upend the status quo, “ending at last...by an overthrow of all things.” Aristotle’s “Poetics” also explores the characteristics, construction, and petitions (with rebuttals) of the dramatic tragedy, drawing on the classical tragedies of Sophocles to argue that “Oedipus Rex” (a play in part about the troubles of tyranny) was a near-perfect embodiment of the tragedy.

Shakespeare’s political theater

In Shakespeare’s Elizabethan-era England, the theater continued to be more than just an entertainment venue—it was also a place for political and cultural commentary. Shakespeare’s histories ooze with politics that would have been clear to audiences of the time. 

“Plays such as ‘Henry VI,’ ‘King John,’ and ‘Henry V’ represent stagings of political dilemmas and conjunctures, drawn from the history—past conjunctures in which many of the most pressing problems of the day, and the most prevalent means and modes of response, had also been in operation,” notes historian Peter Lake, author of “How Shakespeare Put Politics on the Stage.” 

Most pressing for Shakespeare, Lake argues, was the goodness of legitimate monarchs, a topic explored from the English histories to tragedies like “Titus Andronicus,” “Julius Caesar,” and “Hamlet.” Lake concludes that Shakespeare’s intense political concerns not only gave space to audiences to understand these concerns “at a time when direct discussion of those concerns remained fraught with danger,” but that their “multilayered and intensely open-ended” political contexts continue confronting audiences today.  

Political theater in 19th-century Russia

Over three centuries later, playwrights like Maxim Gorky and Anton Chekhov challenged Russian political ideologies in their respective works. An avowed Marxist and the father of socialist realism, Gorky reflected on his social and political milieu in works like “The Lower Depths” and “Children of the Sun,” both of which explore the chasm between the Russian elite and the lower classes.

Chekhov, the most famous Russian playwright and the second-most-produced playwright (next only to Shakespeare), similarly observed the deep divide between the haves and have-nots in his society, though the Russian master is rare among his peers in his attempts to illustrate the peasantry as real people. “He was the only great Russian writer of the 19th century born to the peasantry rather than the nobility, the reason why the peasants in his stories are complex human beings, neither saints nor sinners, and as understandable as they are sometimes degenerate, rather than pegs in grand philosophies,” explains author Boris Fishman. 

As seen in plays like “The Cherry Orchard” and “Uncle Vanya,” the richness of Chekhov’s characters and his insistence on the importance of inner freedom over personal freedom created a theater of politics with a tradition of highlighting the messiness of human nature that carries on to this day.

Bertolt Brecht and 20th century political theater

In the 20th century, German playwright Bertolt Brecht revolutionized drama with the concept of “epic theater.” As opposed to the theater of practitioners like Konstantin Stanislavsky, who attempted to convince audiences of the reality of what was onstage, Brecht’s epic theater is characterized by an emotional distancing—also known in German as Verfremdungseffekt—meant to encourage audiences to objectively consider the play’s political themes. 

This theatrical style actively reminds the audience that what they’re watching is not real, promoting “a new attitude and consciousness in the audience, encouraging spectators to recognize their own agency and practice socially interventionist behaviors,” according to scholar Laura Bradley. For instance, Brecht’s “Mother Courage and Her Children” is an antiwar epic that places war strictly within a capitalist framework and emphasizes the ineffectiveness of individual courage against a government machine of violence.

Dave Thomas Brown and company, in “The Book of Mormon” Courtesy Broadway Inbound

Politics and theater continue to be intertwined today—here are just a few examples: 

• “The Vagina Monologues” (1996), by Eve Ensler, brought women’s rights and bodily autonomy to the forefront of the American imagination, making it “probably the most important piece of political theater of the last decade,” according to theater critic Charles Isherwood.
• “The Book of Mormon” (2011), by Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone, hilariously lampoons religious imperialism in its depiction of Mormon evangelism. 
• “City Council Meeting” (2012), by Mallory Catlett and Aaron Landsman, is a participatory theater piece, which the creators call “Performed Participatory Democracy,” asking what art can do in the face of political uncertainty. Rather than depressed shoulder shrugging, it optimistically answers with a shared understanding that we are best served by sitting in political uncertainty together. 
• “Hamilton” (2015), by Lin-Manuel Miranda, sparked conversations about immigration and founding narratives in its portrayal of founding father (without a father) Alexander Hamilton and his contemporaries,  with a primarily nonwhite troupe. The cast even directly addressed then-VP-elect Mike Pence in the audience during a 2016 performance. 
• “What the Constitution Means to Me” (2017), by Heidi Schreck, highlights the anxieties spawned by oppressive political ideologies, particularly regarding women’s rights. 
• “Slave Play” (2018), by Jeremy O. Harris, critiques contemporaneous  racism and microaggressions through its provocative portrayal of slavery’s haunting legacy. 
• “POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive” (2022), by Selina Fillinger, is a feminist farce exploring the roles women play in politics. 
• “Blood of the Lamb” (2023), by Arlene Hutton, features two women with opposing political beliefs regarding abortion in post-Roe America. 

Amid the world’s shifting political tides (and in some places, a rightward lurch), many theatrical practitioners have retreated from politics, unsure of art’s ability to dramatically sway audiences (see Ryan Claycomb’s 2023 reflection on verbatim theater, “In the Lurch”). Nevertheless, many playwrights and other artists continue the fight to speak truth to power through their work. If you want to join in the rich legacy of political theater as a performer, check out our theatrical casting call database today!