A School of Morals: The Ethics of Theatre

Philosophy and theatre have always enjoyed a close but troubled
relationship. My talk explores one dimension of this relationship – that
between theatre and morality. Some philosophers have claimed that theatre
has a special role to play in training us to be moral; others argue that,
to the contrary, it is of the essence of theatre that it is a foolish,
deceitful entertainment which, at the very best, keeps wicked people
distracted for a couple hours so that, for this brief period of time, they
don’t find it quite so easy to steal, flatter and fornicate. I’ll be
sketching out the maze of arguments and, if possible, trying to point to a
way out.