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Theatre & ethics

Theatre & Ethics tackles questions first addressed in Stage Fright, Animals and Other Theatrical Problems (2006), concerning an understanding of ethics situated in the encounter between performer and spectator in the theatre, which previous authors had developed from the philosophy of Levinas. The central proposition of Theatre & Ethics, articulated in its concluding pages, is that theatre that demands a specific ethical response from its audience cannot be understood as ethical, in the sense intended by Levinas, because it violates the otherness of the other which such an ethics insists we must respect. This argument is built upon a political and historical account of how theatre has been oriented towards moral and political projects (Lessing, Brecht), or, alternatively, understood to threaten them (Plato).

The book is cited in ways which suggest it is regarded as a contribution to research into theatre, performance and ethics. It has been described as 'an important contribution to the move towards ethics that has recently taken place in theatre and drama studies' by Mireia Aragay in 'A Mirror Of Our Own Anxiety: Civilization, Violence and Ethics In Martin Crimp's Cruel And Tender' (ATLANTIS: Journal of the Spanish Association of Anglo-American Studies. 33.2 [2011], 75:87), cited in articles by scholars in the UK, USA, Belgium, Spain and Israel - Brian Phillips, Journal of Human Rights Practice, John Keefe, Performing Ethos (2010); Jon Foley Sherman, Performance Research, Stephen Bottoms, Contemporary Theatre Review (2011); Katharina Pewny, Journal of Literary Theory, Stefan Aquilina, Theatre Dance and Performance Training, Veronica Rodriguez, OXIMORA: Revista Internacional de Ética y Politica (2012); Helen Iball, Performing Ethos, Zahava Caspi, SubStance - (2013) by both Lynette Hunter and Peter Lichtenfels, in Performance, Politics and Activism, and by Camilla Stevens in Imagining Human Rights in 21st Century Theatre (both Palgrave 2013).