SPACE: Seminars on Politics, Art, Culture and Entertainment - Parliament on the Stage: A Discussion and Visit to the National Theater
When:
—
Venue:
TBC
No booking required
Parliament on the Stage: A Discussion and Visit to the National Theater
This event looks at the relationship between politics and theatre. It begins with a short seminar on how Parliament and parliamentarians have been represented in British theatre from William Shakespeare to James Graham. The recurring theme of the ‘guilty politician’ in this work is explored from political science and sociological perspectives.
This is followed by a trip to the National Theatre to see Harley Granville Barker’s Waste (1907/1926). It’s a play about Henry Trebell, an idealistic independent politician who gets into bed with the Tories in order to realize his visionary educational schemes. He also gets embroiled in a sex scandal with Amy O'Connell, the wife of an Irish nationalist – oddly, a political sex scandal in which neither participant is especially interested in sex, still less romance.
It was written in 1906, and then banned by the Lord Chamberlain, ostensibly for its discussion of abortion, but in reality because of the unflattering light it shed on politicians. Barker rewrote the play in 1926, and this version finally received a public performance in 1936. The version we’ll see draws on both texts.
Besides showing us behind-the-scenes politicking, Waste is preoccupied with the roles assigned to the sexes in modern society. In several previous plays, Granville Barker had been concerned with the problems of a central female character in finding a satisfactory role in modern society. The waste referred to in the title is arguably not just the destruction of Trebell or of Amy and their unborn child, but the wasted talents of women in general.
Contact name:
Dr Dermot Hodson