Katz 1

Nina Katz

1007143048

Dr. Signy Lynch

DRM220Y1 TUT0104

5 April 2022

Edited By: Malena Jin

The Complexities of Analysing Play Texts as Historical Documents

Art is a product of the culture and values that surround its creator, and play texts are not

exceptions. Analysing play texts as historical documents can be fruitful because the content of

the play and how the content is treated by the author can indicate what problems and values

society of the time was preoccupied with. However, it can be problematic to distil play texts into

pure historical text because theatre is a quintessentially live experience, and only engaging with

it as words of history robs it of its fullest potential. Similarly, it is false to assume that all cultures

placed such emphasis on the written text, as many cultures value oral tradition over print. Play

texts are a great source of historical knowledge, but they must not be lauded as the ultimate

source of knowledge, superseding all other forms of documentation and collective history.

The stylistic qualities of a play text can act as historical evidence for the art movement it

was produced in, and the way it abides to style can reveal cultural values. For example, the

structure of Molière’s Tartuffe, written in 1664 France, is influenced by the Neoclassical Rules

for French Theatre, established by the Académie Française (Week 16 Slide 17). It follows

Verisimilitude, as all the characters and the world of the play reflect the nature of actual reality in

17th century France, and it follows the Three Unities, as the play contains one plot (foiling

Tartuffe’s lies) in one place (Orgon’s house) and all in one day. Where Tartuffe becomes
Katz 2

controversial for its time is the question of if it follows the last precept, Decorum, which

demands that all the characters behave appropriately for their station. The conceit of Tartuffe is

that the titular character, a priest, does not behave priestly in the slightest:

Tartuffe: …There’ll be no sins for which we must atone,

’Cause evil exists only when it’s known.

Adam and Eve were public in their fall.

To sin in private is not to sin at all. (Molière 119-122)

Tartuffe’s blatant disregard for sinning demonstrates how hypocritical he is as a priest; the

doctrines mean nothing to him if they stand in the way of him sleeping with Elmire. Depending

on how negatively one construes the Catholic Church, Tartuffe’s character abides by the precept

of Decorum because he behaves like a hypocritical person who thinks nothing of abusing his

power. The critique of the Church lying within the text of Tartuffe can illuminate French cultural

history, and how the relationship between the French Church and the French populace was not

always harmonious in the 17th century.

George L. Aiken’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is another example of how a play text can indicate

the values of the time and place it was written in. Adapted from the antislavery novel by Harriet

Beecher Stowe of the same name, Aiken’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin is full of racist stereotypes of

black characters, and the legacy of its bigoted portrayal of black characters overshadows the

antislavery message of its source material. The titular Tom is servile and forgiving to a white

slave owner, Leg:

Tom: Mas’r, if you was sick, or in trouble, or dying, and I could have, I’d give you my

hearts blood; and, if taking every drop of blood in this poor old body would save your

precious soul, I’d give ‘em freely. (Aiken 59)

Katz 3

Tom’s self-sacrificing, servile nature perpetuates the idea that slave owners should be forgiven

for the trauma and abuse they have caused. The text’s supposedly antislavery message is

denigrated by the forgiveness that the black characters bestow onto the white characters; there is

no evidence of learning or even consequences. It is a spectacle of slavery that reflects the

prevalent racism in mid-nineteenth century American society, and the effects of its stereotypes

still permeate through black representation to this day. Studying it as a historical text allows

audiences to find the roots of such hateful stereotypes and unpack them.

One of the pitfalls of analysing play texts as pure historical knowledge is the

misappreciation for the power of theatre’s live influence. One can glean information about the

context of the play’s society, but the impact of the theatre itself is lost. An example of this

conundrum can be found in studying the concept of gesamtkunstwerk. Coined by Richard

Wagner in nineteenth-century Germany, gesamtkunstwerk translates to “total artwork” and

combines different forms of art, such as music, dance, acting and visual, to create “perfect art”

(Week 18 Slide 12). Wagner’s intentions when creating gesamtkunstwerk is linked to his

historical circumstance; he was creating art when Germany was in the process of becoming a

unified state, so his theatrical theory is heavily influenced by nationalism for this burgeoning

state (Week 18 Slide 12). His goals for the reaction to gesamtkunstwerk parallel his idyllic vision

for what this new state, Germany, could be:

The goal of the total artwork is to help audience and artists transcend the egoism and

individualism which Wagner saw as an obstacle to societal improvement. He hoped it

might pave the way for a new political future for Germany grounded not in the

aristocracy but in the people or the volk. (Week 18 Slide 12)

Katz 4

Wagner’s focus on national unity and communal engagement can be likened to the solidification

of many artforms within gesamtkunstwerk and the immersive quality of the performance for the

audience. His work is an excellent reflection of nationalist sentiments of nineteenth-century

Germany, but merely analysing it does not convey the raw spectacle of gesamtkunstwerk. The

disconnect between the theory of what gesamtkunstwerk aims to achieve and how it feels to

experience it is heightened by purely regarding Wagner’s body of work as historical text.

Chikamatsu Monzaemon’s Love Suicides on the Eve of the Koshin Festival is another

example of a play that can give historical background, but whose beauty is lost if studied purely

as a historical text. Love Suicides is a of the Ningyo Joruri form, which is oral storytelling

accompanied by the stylized actions of puppet theatre (Week 14 Slide 12). From aspects of its

plot, one can discern social norms in Edo era Japanese culture. For example, the inclusion of

normalized homosexual relationships between Hanbei’s younger half-brother Koshichiro and the

older Koichibei:

Hanbei: Well, Koichibei, you certainly are adept. I live far away, so I must ask you to

look after my brother, who has no one else to depend on. (spoken) As payment for my

services at today’s feast, I’ll ask the master to approve your relationship. (sung) I stand as

go-between in your love. May you always remain close. (Chikamatsu 296)

Hanbei, Koshichiro’s guardian, condones the union between Koshichiro and Koichibei, even if

they are both men. From his untroubled acceptance of their love, one can glean that their

relationship would not have been considered queer in Edo era Japanese culture. Koshichiro was

considered a wakashu, a “third gender” who could be socially accepted with a man or a woman

(Week 14 Slide 28). Cultural norms can be learned from Love Suicides, but the essence of the
Katz 5

performance is untranslatable through text. One cannot experience the manoeuvring of each

puppet by three respective puppeteers through the script, as it makes no reference to puppetry

(Week 14 Slide 12). It is also impossible ascertain through the script that all of the dialogue is

performed by one tayu because different characters are referred to when in dialogue (Week 14

Slide 12). The stylistic features that differentiate Ningyo Joruri from other types of Japanese

theatre, like Kabuki, are lost when one reduced it down to a play text.

One of the most pressing limits of focusing on play texts as historical documents is that

this practice prioritises the Archive and print culture over the Repertoire and oral culture. Play

texts fall under the umbrella category of “The Archive,” which refers to “documents that are

seemingly resistant to change and can be housed in a physical archival space… often associated

with the state or other recognized institutions” (Week 15 Slide 8). The Archive’s association

with the state and recognized institutions is born from how Western society tends to be a print

culture, so its states and theatrical institutions consequently emphasise the importance of play

texts. It is not inherently bad to be a print-oriented culture; however, historically, European and

Colonised-American powers have touted the supremacy of the Archive while banning or

destroying those who upkeep Repertoires and practise oral culture. An example of this

oppression in performance history is how the Canadian government banned First Nations

potlatches from 1885 to 1951, illustrating their contempt for First Nations people and the oral

traditions they practise (Week 15 Slide 22). The remnants of this colonial bias towards print

culture and disregard for oral culture has seeped into its academic institutions:

Theatre and performance history as undertaken by Western universities… have served as

an extension of colonialism and have a strong bias towards print culture and the study of

archives (over oral cultural and the study of repertoire). (Week 15 Slide 19).
Katz 6

If play texts are the only means through which theatre academics try to learn history, they are

reinforcing the colonial view that print culture is always superior to oral culture. An example of

pointing out the flaws of an all-archive based approach comes from the scholarly work of EJ

Westlake, who critiques how supposedly objective and infallible the practice of analysing text

is:

Westlake counters Nicaraguan nationalist readings of El Güegüense, by pointing out

current performances rely on an archive-based script that was “rediscovered” by scholars

in a period of ethnographic racism… This context may have had significant effect on

what was left out of the script – as well as which kind of historical evidence is preserved

more broadly. (Week 15 Slide 26)

By bringing attention to the racist biases held by the scholars who brought El Güegüense into the

archive, Westlake illustrates how no text stands on its own; it is always mediated by its author,

and by the researchers who discover them. Westlake brings attention to the practice of editing,

and questions what is and is not left out archives to strengthen bigoted Western narratives of

white supremacy. The question of what play texts will not or cannot include must be considered

when approaching the theatrical archive.

The historical prioritisation of print culture by the West has affected the way Indigenous

performance artists produce art today. Anishinaabe artist Brian Solomon discusses how the

institutionalisation of Western art practice values Western forms of expression to the exclusion

of other cultures:

The binaries in which we study art and the value system which we use to measure it are

Western aesthetics that we apply to art… it can also be very problematic [in how it

influences] your art, and what type of art and stories get fostered. (Solomon 9)
Katz 7

Part of the “Western aesthetic” that Solomon is referring to is the preference of print culture over

oral culture. Artists trained in Western institutions are taught to focus on the written word and

the “correct” way to practise art, even if it feels inorganic to them (Solomon 9). Once again, the

practice of selective picking and editing is evident in the way the institutions uphold values of

“high art,” which itself is a term rooted in colonialism. Indigenous artform have historically been

excluded from this category: “A powwow dancer was not considered a dancer. A professional

dancer anyways. A visual artist who is Indigenous, maybe someone who does incredible

beadwork or quillwork, was considered a craftsman, not an artist” (Solomon 12). Because

Indigenous forms of art do not coincide with what the West has deemed worthy of the title,

institutions classify it under a different category altogether, much like how the Archive has

usurped the position of the Repertoire. The Western practice of focusing on play texts is valid,

but it cannot be viewed as the ultimate way to study theatre, as this would exclude other ways of

learning, such as oral traditions. Exclusively studying Archive at the expense of studying

Repertoire is a colonial practice that must end.

Play texts are an important source of historical knowledge regarding the values of the

society they were created in, but they cannot be distilled into pure history at the expense of

theatricality or hailed as the ultimate way to explore theatre history at the expense of the

Repertoire. However, learning about world history through the context of how social and

political movements affected the art produced in that time and place is an effective way to

broaden one’s knowledge of art and the world. Play texts in conjunction with oral history can

provide a window into the past and broaden the way they perceive theatre.
Katz 8

Works Cited

Aiken, George. Uncle Tom’s Cabin. 1858.

Chikamatsu, Monzaemon. Love Suicides on the Eve of the Koshin Festival. 1722.

Halferty, J. Paul and Solomon, Brian. “Tearing Apart the 'Canadian Aesthetic': An Interview

with Brian Solomon.” Canadian Theatre Review, Volume 179, Summer 2019, pp. 8-15.

Lynch, Signy. “Week 14 – Edo and Meiji Period Japanese Theatre.” Quercus, 18 January 2022.

Lynch, Signy. “Week 15 - Contact in the Americas.” Quercus, 25 January 2022.

Lynch, Signy. “Week 16 - French Theatre - 1630-1700.” Quercus, 1 February 2022.

Lynch, Signy. “Week 18 - Gesamtkunstwerk.” Quercus, 15 February 2022.

Molière. Tartuffe. 1664.