The “Nature of Theatre”: Herder’s Pursuit of a Human Theatre

Johann Gottfried Herder is primarily known for his writings on the philosophy of history, linguistics, and theology; his ideas about theatre have been largely overlooked. His interest in the history of various human cultures and his significant influence on the birth of anthropology shaped his unique approach to aesthetics and theatre. This article asks how he understood nature in theatre – more precisely, the possibility of producing a natural theatre during the Enlightenment, an age dominated by the celebration of reason. By examining Herder’s use of terms related to nature in multiple sources that have almost never been investigated – including some of Herder’s manuscripts, fragments, and short texts on theatre – this article shows that there is a link between Herder’s reflections on drama and theatre, nourished by his engagement with various disciplines, especially history, and the theatrical issues that would preoccupy his successors in the centuries to come. Herder’s conception of a natural theatre resonates in particular with Bertolt Brecht’s desire for the stage to represent the human condition as a historical process.