Pathologies of Hope in Drama and Theatre

Abstract In a postmodern world, hope is a disease which afflicts individuals who dare to search for a pluralistic future that does not rest entirely on pragmatism and moral relativism, a future that might have something to say about a proliferation of freedom, justice and equality. This article addresses the question of what theatre and drama might best do in the present, if not to induce an immediate epidemic, then at least to produce a growing number of carriers of hope. It argues that radicalism is likely to provide the most contagious type of ideological bug, and so searches for the communal and individual sources of radicalism in theatre and drama practices. It suggests that these may be identified most clearly in places where the disease is most threatened by eradication, for example, in prisons, among schoolchildren, wherever dictators flourish. It lays claim to being part of a wider pathology through its underlying commitment to democracy as a political process which, though often discredited, pot...