Pandemic and Theatre Throughout the Ages

Abstract

The theatre, based on action, movement, and screening, was restricted by diseases and epidemics and also served as a mirror by carrying them to the stage. From Athenian society to the Elizabethan era and today, outbreaks, plagues and communicable diseases caused theatres to be closed and performances to be restricted. The plague was a global problem for human beings and like Covid 19; plagues abolished social, regional, and racial differences. The emergence, survival, and spread of outbreaks posed a threat to theatres and playwrights, while at the same Öz Aksiyon, hareket ve gösterime dayalı tiyatro, hastalıklar ve salgın hastalıklarla sınırlandırılmış aynı zamanda salgınları ve hastalıkları sahneye taşıyarak ayna işlevi görmüştür. Atina toplumundan Elizabeth dönemine ve günümüze salgınlar ve bulaşıcı hastalıklar tiyatroların kapanmasına ve performansların kısıtlanmasına neden olmuştur. Veba insanlar için küresel bir sorundu ve Covid 19 gibi; vebalar sosyal, bölgesel ve ırksal farklılıkları ortadan kaldırmıştır. Salgınların ortaya çıkması, hayatta kalması ve yayılması tiyatrolar ve oyun yazarları için tehdit 1 Doktor Öğretim Üyesi, Adnan Menderes Üniversitesi, mesut.gunenc@gmail.com, Orcid: 0000-0002-7077-1914 * This article is a revised version of the online presentation of the International Symposium on Representations of Pandemic in Literature. 26-27 March 2021, Atatürk University, Erzurum. Pandemic and Theatre Throughout the Ages Çağlar Boyunca Pandemi ve Tiyatro Günenç, Mesut, (2021). Pandemic and Theatre Throughout the Ages Araştırma Makalesi, Doi: https://doi.org/10.35235/uicd.907035 77 Uluslararası İnsan Çalışmaları Dergisi / International Journal of Human Studies, 7 (2021), 76-87 time the pandemic served as a resource and communication tool for plays that depicted societies that were affected both psychologically and physiologically. In this study I will try to explain the effect of the pandemic on theatre, plays such as Oedipus Rex, Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, Macbeth, The Tempest, An Enemy of the People, Ten Plagues and Coronation for Poppea and Beat the Devil and playwrights within historical periods and how theatre became a communication tool sharing same concerns and fears among societies because theatre, which is restricted and closed from time to time, is one of the most effective vaccines.