The Drama
Reason in Madness
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4552620 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J L Styan (corresponding author) |
| Year | 1980 |
| Volume | 32 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 371 |
| Publication date | 1980-10-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Theatre Journal (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0192-2882 • E-ISSN: 1086-332X |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/3206892 |
| OpenAlex | W2316484651 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
Apollo and Dionysus are still with us. Did they ever leave? The point is clear enough when we stop to consider what dramatic activity expects of its audience, whether the occasion is a religious celebration of the most devout kind, or, with another kind of devotion, a matter of switching on the TV. Viewing a play is an act of extraordinary human irrationality, one which no scientific theory can exactly explain. Plays are a primary example of our need to express our feelings, and yet control them. John Lahr has said that Performing is a kind of ecstasy, an act so inspired and irrational that-at its extremes-it can seem vulgar, lunatic, and dangerous.' The spectacle, the ritual, the abiding mystery of putting on a play is artificial and preposterous. What kind of madness, then, are we capabale of, when we solemnly set out to watch one and pay good money to do so
Art · Drama · Literature · Psychoanalysis · Classical Philosophy and Thought · Medicine · Psychology
| Citations per year | 0.03 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1988 - 1988 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |