The idea of the “political” in our histories of theatre: Texts, contexts, periods, and problems

Abstract

The idea of the “political” provides one way to construct the context of a dramatic text and a theatrical event. By this means, theatre scholars identify the conditions within a period that supposedly shape or control texts and events. Yet despite general agreement that political factors influence theatrical events, our models of analysis are often inadequate. An examination of current scholarship on the English Renaissance theatre reveals some of the methods and problems facing theatre scholars today.