The Drama of Ideas: Platonic Provocations in Theater and Philosophy by Martin Puchner (review)
Will Daddario
TDR: The Drama Review, Volume 57, Number 3, Fall 2013 (T 219), pp. 167-168 (Article)
Published by The MIT Press
For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/tdr/summary/v057/57.3.daddario.html
Access provided by Harvard University (23 Sep 2013 21:16 GMT) Books 167 - - that dramatic
—
- a
- —
in order to fight off cultural and philosophical relativism, we in order to fight off cultural and philosophical relativism, By Martin Puchner. Oxford: Puchner. By Martin is Puchner not simply applying his creative Platonic reading to
not the discredited Plato of ide not the discredited
—
—
Dramatic Platonism is thus a “balancing act” (34) between idealism and materialism, and (34) between idealism and materialism, “balancing act” Dramatic Platonism is thus a fascinating insights into modern theatre and phi- Several of the book’s case studies present Puchner runs the By yoking such a diverse collection of plays and playwrights together, The Drama of Ideas: Platonic Provocations in in Platonic Provocations of Ideas: Drama The and Philosophy. Theater Platonism already exists and that, must learn to recognize it history of philosophy from the point of view of drama and the history of philosophy Oxford University Press, 2010; 272 pp. $29.95 cloth. $29.95 272 pp. 2010; Press, Oxford University to revive Plato “It is time ater” (8). The book features an eclectic cast including George book features an eclectic cast including George The (8). ater” Luigi Pirandello, George Bernard Shaw, Wilde, Oscar Kaiser, Friedrich Søren Kierkegaard, Stoppard, Tom Bertolt Brecht, Kenneth Albert Camus, Sartre and Jean-Paul Nietzsche, Alain Martha Nussbaum, Iris Murdoch, Gilles Deleuze, Burke, “dramatic Its key term, Plato. of course, and, Socrates, Badiou, the (i.e., the assertion that Platonic idealism carries Platonism,” forms) loses all potency and legitimacy theory of the world of of the bodies when not developed in tandem with an analysis Plato’s philosophy is prac- According to Puchner, that express those forms in the material world. When approached as dramatic texts, and we find it at work in his dialogues. , tical and dramatic A book of enormous scope, (chapter 1). the dialogues reveal Plato as a reformist playwright enthusiasm for pursuing the connections between fueled by extensive research and a lifelong perfor of Ideas presents a model for a new generation of The Drama philosophy and theatre, upon. mance philosophers to scrutinize and build where of such an act in the first chapter, Puchner introduces his readers to the dramaturgy a genre that mixes tragic and comic elements and he develops a poetics of the Socrates play, conception of theater was at once a break with “Plato’s to which Plato’s dialogues belong. attempt to envision a mode of performance that would Athenian theatricality [...] and a hesitant very practice Plato’s dialogues are reformist texts that seem to change the coexist with writing. Through analy- (30). pointing the way to the theater of the future” of theatrical performance, an image of Plato as a Puchner develops and other dialogues, the Symposium, ses of the Phaedo, which he sets He lays out the basic principles of a Platonic poetics, protomodernist playwright. features of char Aristotles’s views on theatre and dramatic poetry by focusing on the off against He then locates this poetics in the dramatic and drama’s relation to the audience. action, acter, in the texts of many philosophers. works of numerous playwrights as well as phil- antiheros modeled on the character of Socrates, losophy by locating in plays and treatises techniques and and sometimes ludicrous plots, osophical arguments embedded in circuitous of engag- that transform audience members and readers into keen participant observers capable and Shaw’s Puchner’s reading of Stoppard’s Jumpers ing in and enacting philosophical thought. In the are particularly enjoyable and intriguing. and a Philosophy A Comedy Man and Superman: “theater’s Puchner finds a critique of philosophical relativism demonstrated through former, and despite its poor critical In the case of Shaw’s play, (118). supposedly relativizing effects” Puchner sees a British theatre of ideas following in the reception at the time of its emergence, argument and action by forging a drama from “mixes idea and character, that Wilde footsteps of (98). their collision” If this is indeed his argument risk of finding precisely what he is looking for. alism, but a different one, the Plato of dramatic Platonism” Platonism” the Plato of dramatic a different one, but alism, in The Martin Puchner presents this belief, Motivated by (198). of modern philosophy “theatrical history of Ideas a Drama 168 Books work ofTheodor andacoreinternational convener ofPerformance Philosophy. His research focusesontheBaroque, the He isChairofthePerformance andPhilosophy Working Group withinPerformance Studies Will Daddario Professor isAssistant intheSchoolofTheatre and Dance at Illinois State University. new field, andhisenthusiasmforthedramaofphilosophyspeaksthroughitspages. in the20thcentury. Puchner’sbookprovidesamodelresearchmethodologyforscholarsofthis that scholarsoftheatreandperformanceareattunedtothetheatricalturnphilosophyhastaken turalism. The recentformationoftheprofessionalassociationPerformancePhilosophyproves by offeringacontemporarycritiqueofthephilosophiesdifferencepropoundedpoststruc- philosopher-dramatist engagedinthecritiqueofsophistryandstepsintoPlatoniclineage and contentdonotultimatelydetractfromthemeritofthisbook, whichpresentsPlatoasa claims throughquickanalysesandbegformorethoroughtreatment. Butidiosyncrasiesofstyle weakness oftheseprovocationsistheirsprezzatura ; certainsectionsofthebookforwardbold vide numerouslinesofsightontothereciprocalrelationbetweenIdeasandeverydaylife. The who managestoremakePlatonicdramatismforanewgeneration(125–38). Puchner’s Kierkegaard, forexample, isnotadiscipleofPlatoplainandsimplebutreformer tent oftheirwritingsthatlinkthemtoPlato’stheatricalreformationanddevotion Truth. the uniquesignaturesofphilosophershetreats, locateselementsinboththeformandcon- in thattext. As wasthecasewithprecedingchapterdevotedtoplaywrights, Puchner, despite cated toKierkegaard’smajorworkssuchasEither/Orandhisuseofcharacters A andB works of19th-, 20th-, and21st-centuryphilosophers. Ofparticularnotearethepagesdedi- losophers andoffers, again, somecompellinganalysesthatrevealPlato’sdramaticlegacyinthe CE (167 plays andanappendixlisting118titlesofSocrateswrittenbetweenthetimeLucian history oftheSocratesplay (119). With suchastatement, Puchnerencouragesreaderstotesthistheoryanddiveintothe find differentsolutionsandformstothesamequestionorproblem:howuseideasintheater” not describeasingletraditionwithinmoderndrama, butratheraclusterofplaywrightswho unwarranted, butitisnotsomethingthatPuchneravoids. “Platonic drama,” hewrites, “does dramatists whoseworksrevealageneralphilosophicaltendency?Suchclaimwouldnotbe New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology TDR: The Drama Review 57:3 (T219) Fall 2013. ©2013 [email protected]. The Dr This book’ssubtitle In chapter4, Puchnerturnshisattentionfromphilosophicalplaywrightstodramaticphi- ama ofIdeas. ItsstrengthisitsmanyglimpsesofdramaticPlatonismatwork, whichpro- ) andthecontemporaryworkofSteveHatzai(2008CE).
W . Adorno, andtheintersectionsbetween. Adorno, theatre, andphilosophy. performance,
—
Platonic provocations
—
a taskthatwouldbeaidedbythebook’s37-pagehistoryofsuch
—
points toboththestrengthandweaknessof
—
il Daddario Will