Words, Space, and the Audience : The Theatrical Tension Between Empiricism and Rationalism

Situating theatre in crucial moments in history and philosophy, Bennet reads four of the most influential plays through their contemporary epistemological debates between rationalism and empiricism. Situating theatre in crucial moments in history and philosophy, this book reads four of the most influential plays through their contemporary epistemological debates between rationalism and empiricism. In this unique study, Michael Y. Bennett re-reads four influential modern plays alongside their contemporary debates between rationalism and empiricism to show how these monumental achievements were thoroughly a product of their time, but also universal in their epistemological quest to understand the world through a rational and/or empirical model. Bennett contends that these plays directly engage in their contemporary epistemological debates rather than through the lens of a specific philosophy. Besides producing new, insightful readings of heavily-studied plays, the interdisciplinary (historical, philosophical, dramatic, theatrical, and literary) frame Bennett constructs allows him to investigate one of the most fundamental questions of the theatre - how does meaning get made? Bennett suggests that the key to unlocking theatrical meaning is exploring the tension between empirical and rational modes of understanding. The book concludes with an interview with performance artist Coco Fusco Front Matter....Pages i-x Introduction: Words, Space, and the Audience....Pages 1-26 Victorian Ideals: Wilde Performances in the Importance of Being Earnest and Salome....Pages 27-56 After the Great War: Contextualizing the Self in Italy and Six Characters in Search of an Author....Pages 57-80 1952 Paris: Waiting for Godot and the Great Quarrel....Pages 81-101 Cold War Tactics: Fear in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?....Pages 103-123 Conclusion: The Epistemological Quandary over Improvisation, Impermanence, and Lack of a Script in Performance Art—An Interview with Coco Fusco....Pages 125-134 Back Matter....Pages 135-179