Apolitical drama can describe aplay,film orTV program that has apolitical component, whether reflecting the author's political opinion, or describing apolitician or series of political events.
Dramatists who have written political dramas includeAaron Sorkin,[1][2]Robert Penn Warren,Sergei Eisenstein,Bertolt Brecht,Jean-Paul Sartre,Howard Brenton,Caryl Churchill, andFederico García Lorca.
In the history of theatre, there is long tradition of performances addressing issues of current events, especially those central to society itself. Thepolitical satire performed by thecomic poets at thetheatres had considerable influence onpublic opinion in theAthenian democracy.[3] Those earlier Western dramas, arising out of thepolis, or democraticcity-state of Greek society, were performed in amphitheaters, central arenas used for theatrical performances, religious ceremonies and political gatherings; these dramas had a ritualistic and social significance that enhanced the relevance of the political issues being examined.
Shakespeare is an author of political theatre according to some academic scholars, who observe that his history plays examine the machinations of personal drives and passions determining political activity and that many of the tragedies such asKing Lear andMacbeth dramatize political leadership and complexity subterfuges of human beings driven by the lust for power. For example, they observe thatclass struggle in theRoman Republic is central toCoriolanus.[4]
Historically inSoviet Russia, the term political theatre was sometimes referred to asagitprop theatre or simplyagitprop, after theSoviet termagitprop.[5]
In later centuries, political theatre has sometimes taken a different form. Sometimes associated withcabaret and folk theatre, it has offered itself as a theatre 'of, by, and for the people'.[citation needed] In this guise, political theatre has developed within the civil societies under oppressive governments as a means of actual underground communication and the spreading of critical thought. Following the war there was an influx of political theatre, as people needed to discuss the losses of the war.
Often political theatre has been used to promote specific political theories or ideals, for example in the way agitprop theatre has been used to furtherMarxism and the development ofcommunist sympathies. Russian agitprop theater was noted for its cardboard characters of perfect virtue and complete evil, and its coarse ridicule.[6]
Less radical versions of political theatre have become established within the mainstream modern repertory - such as the realist dramas ofArthur Miller (The Crucible andAll My Sons), which probe the behavior of human beings as social and political animals.[citation needed]
A new form of political theatre emerged in the twentieth century withfeminist authors likeElfriede Jelinek orCaryl Churchill, who often make use of the non-realistic techniques detailed above.[citation needed]. During the 1960s and 1970s, new theatres emerged addressing women's issues. These theatres went beyond producing feminist plays, but also sought to give women opportunities and work experience in all areas of theatrical production which had heretofore been dominated by men. In addition to playwright, producers, and actors, there were opportunities for women electricians, set designers, musical director, stage managers, etc.
The Living Theatre, created byJudith Malina and her husbandJulian Beck in 1947, which had its heyday in the 1960s, during theVietnam War, is a primary example of politically oriented Brechtian performance art in the United States.[citation needed] Their original productions ofKenneth Brown'sThe Brig (c. 1964), also filmed, and ofJack Gelber's controversial playThe Connection and its 1961film rely upon and illustrate thedramaturgy of Brechtianalienation effect (Verfremdungseffekt) that most political theatre uses to some extent, forcing the audience to take a "critical perspective" on events being dramatized or projected on screen(s) and building on aspects of theTheatre of Cruelty, which developed from the theory and practice of French earlysurrealist and proto-absurdistAntonin Artaud.[7]
In American regional theatre, a politically oriented social orientation occurs inStreet theatre, such as that produced by theSan Francisco Mime Troupe and ROiL. TheDetroit Repertory Theatre has been among those regional theaters at the forefront of political comedy, staging plays likeJacob M. Appel'sArborophilia, in which a lifelong Democrat prefers that her daughter fall in love with a poplar tree instead of a Republican activist.[8] In 2014, Chicago'sAnnoyance Theater producedGood Morning Gitmo: a one-act play byMishu Hilmy and Eric Simon which lampoons theUS Detention Center at Guantanamo Bay.[9]
David Hare's playStraight Line Crazy focuses on the life ofRobert Moses, played byRalph Fiennes, the controversial urban planner who worked inNew York.
Kitchen sink realism or kitchen sink drama was a movement that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s in theatre, art, novels, film, and television plays, whose protagonists usually could be described as "angry young men" who were disillusioned with modern society. It used a style ofsocial realism to depict the lives ofworking class Britons, and to explore controversial social and political issues ranging from abortion to homelessness. The filmIt Always Rains on Sunday (1947) is a precursor of the genre, andJohn Osborne's playLook Back in Anger (1956) is an example of an early play in this genre.[10]
TheIraq War is the focus of some recent British political drama; for example,Stuff Happens, byDavid Hare.David Edgar andMark Ravenhill also satirize contemporary socio-political realities in their recent dramatic works.
Banner Theatre inBirmingham, England, in theUnited Kingdom, is an example of a specific kind of political theatre calleddocumentary theatre.
John McGrath, founder of the Scottish popular theatre company7:84, argued that "the theatre can never 'cause' a social change. It can articulate pressure towards one, help people celebrate their strengths and maybe build their self-confidence… Above all, it can be the way people find their voice, their solidarity and their collective determination."[11]
The television seriesThe West Wing created byAaron Sorkin which focuses on the fictionalDemocratic administration of PresidentJosiah Bartlet is widely consideredone of the greatest TV shows of all time,[12][13][14][15][16] having won threeGolden Globe Awards and 26Primetime Emmy Awards, including the award forOutstanding Drama Series, which it won four consecutive times from 2000 to 2003.[17]
Yes, Minister and its sequelYes, Prime Minister were Britishpolitical satiresitcoms.
Othertelevision series that have been classified as political dramas includeBorgen,Boss,Jack & Bobby,The Bold Ones: The Senator,Commander in Chief,House of Cards (British andAmerican versions),Madam Secretary,Designated Survivor,Spin,Ingobernable,Scandal,Billions,The Looming Tower, andThe Mechanism.
The Good Wife can also be considered a political drama, especially in its critically acclaimedsecond season andfifth season. Races for political office, includingstate's attorney,governor, and even a Presidential run, move in and out of the show's narrative and the story of its main character, Alicia Florrick. However, Alicia's primary profession as a litigator for the most part takes precedence in the narrative, and so the show more often focuses on her cases and related office politics, making it primarily alegal drama.[citation needed]
There have been notables films that have been labeled as political dramas such asThirteen Days andThe Ides of March. A famous literary political drama which later made the transition to film was Robert Penn Warren'sAll the King's Men.