Vol. 3, No. 1, Summer 2004

Debra Bruch, Ph.D.
Michigan Technological University

The Prejudice Against Theatre

Throughout the Renaissance, drama was defined in certain ways in order to be accepted within a particular ecclesiastical frame if it was to be accepted at all. Drama’s defenders who contended with established church dictums sought ways to justify drama as acceptable under those dictums. However, the purpose of the defense determined its end. Thus, scholars necessarily developed strictures, rules, precepts, and theories to define dramatic art which somewhat not only allowed drama to be tolerated under church doctrine, but also developed drama as a practice outside the ecclesiastical frame.

By the time of the Italian Renaissance, Christian political and social power created the ecclesiastical frame founded on medieval ideology, and demanded justification by theatre scholars. However, the interrelationship between Christianity and theatre was based on a prejudiced attitude. When the Christian community gained political power, the theatre was influenced either in theory or in practice, or both. Yet influences do not happen in a vacuum. Roman theatre practices helped mould Christian prejudiced attitudes about the theatre. Medieval prejudices, in turn, helped shape Renaissance theories and Puritan beliefs. This paper attempts to reexamine segments of theatre history in light of the Christian people’s prejudice to better understand the significant influence that prejudice had on the theatre, and to help clarify the historical arguments for and against theatre.

The Roots of Christian Prejudice

The roots of the Renaissance Christian and Puritan objections against the theatre lie in the theatrical practices of the Roman Empire (27 B.C. to c.576 A.D.) against Christian believers. During this time, Christianity grew from a strong but small and illegal group to a strong and [page 2] unified people possessing a religious doctrine. The beliefs of the Roman people clashed with the beliefs of the Christians. Because of Roman intolerance, Christians were persecuted both by the government and by society.

Yet Christian believers fired Roman intolerance by opposing Roman societal and governmental practices. Christians considered the Roman society to be a pagan society and developed modes of behavior to demonstrate an alternate belief system. They refused to take part in emperor-worship, which society and the government considered to be the duty of all citizens, for Christians’ first loyalty was to God and Christ. Neither would Christians hold public office or serve on military duty for both demanded participation in what they considered to be idolatrous ceremonies. These specific behaviors demonstrated Christian denial of Roman gods, of the emperor, and of society, and created a moral and doctrinal philosophy defined by behavior that lasted for centuries.

The more Christian believers grew in opposition to the gods and societal beliefs and behavior, the more they threatened government and society. Romans believed Christians to be consistent and stubborn law-breakers, and, indeed, to the Roman mind they were. Furthermore, the efficient organization of the church and the unity of the Christian people posed a threat to Roman society. At the beginning of the third century, many upper-class citizens became Christians, thereby posing a greater menace to the empire. Eventually, Christianity became a separate and opposing government within the empire.(1)

No autocratic ruler could ignore such a threat. In the year 249, Emperor Decius moved to crush Christianity in all parts of the empire.(2) He created a law that forced all citizens to take part in the ceremonies of official Roman religious. Those who refused were liable to be put to death.

The Roman government persecuted Christian believers to the point of genocide in order to reestablish political authority and social stability. One of the more efficient tools for societal [page 3] and governmental persecution was the Roman theatre. The theatre almost always was associated with religious festivals of pagan gods. The ludi Romani honored the god Jupiter, the ludi Apollinares honored Apollo, and the ludi Megalenses Cybele, the Mother Goddess. In an attempt to break their behavioral doctrine, the government required Christians to attend, even though they abhorred honoring pagan gods.

Mime flourished during this time, and the licentiousness of the mimes offended the moral sense of Christians. With the mime, Roman society attacked Christian morality by focusing on behaviors repugnant to Christian believers. For instance, the ludi Florales honored the goddess Flora who was a prostitute. During the festival, actors undressed onstage, goats copulated in the circus, and audience members were in a constant state of inebriation. Entertainers prided themselves for their lewdness and violence, and pointedly attacked Christian beliefs. Mimes often ridiculed Christian sacraments such as baptism and communion.

While the early mimes did not physically endanger Christians, they helped to deeply affect society. Audience members were affected by the violence of the mimes’ portrayal of Christian behavior and beliefs. Consequently, mimes helped promote the attitude within society that Christians were non-human and no better than criminals. The violent massacre of the Christian ideology as entertainment soon changed to the violent massacre of the Christian people as entertainment. Soon, the government and society used Christians rather than actors to supply theatrical entertainment. The theatre is a form of entertainment, and the Roman idea of entertainment became partly to watch Christians die in the arena. At times, Romans were creative. The Emperor Nero once dipped Christians in tar and then lit them to serve as torches to light an evening chariot race.

However, Christians were not the only living beings destined to be slaughtered for entertainment. Individuals fought individuals and thousands battled thousands. Criminals—Christian or otherwise—were forced to act a character in a mime or drama before death. A man named Laureolus acted in a popular Atellan farce that ended with his crucifixion and tearing apart by animals. Other people were costumed as various characters and then [page 4] publicly castrated. Animals consumed people, and men hunted animals. In 80 A.D., the Emperor Titus ordered five thousand animals hunted in a single day. At times, men drove animals with whips and hot irons to kill each other.

The effects of these violent acts, perpetrated against Christians as theatrical entertainment, on audience members dominated the Roman scene. Romans were not concerned with art; the masses loved mediocrity and spectacle. Often during entertainment, the audience responded with displays of enthusiasm. Lucian of Samosata describes a man watching pantomime sitting "in the midst of a parcel of hussies and a frantic audience . . . clapping . . . and shouting very unbecoming words of praise to a noxious fellow who doubles himself up for no useful purpose."(3) Some audience members responded to the slaughter in the arena by engaging in sexual intercourse.

To say that Christianity and the theatre became disparate is an understatement. Influential church members moved to deny the theatre as part of their society. For instance, a North African theologian named Tertullian (c. 155-c. 220 A.D.) in his De Spectaculis denounced the theatre and strongly stated that drama is untrue. Christians must forswear the theatre when baptized. Furthermore, based on an awareness of the effects that theatre had on his society, Tertullian forbade Christians to attend theatre performances.(4) Speared by this influence, church leaders sought to dissuade Christians from attending the theatre, and in 398 A.D. the Council of Carthage voted to excommunicate anyone attending the theatre instead of church on holy days. Also, actors were denied the sacraments unless they denounced their profession.

The bases for Tertullian’s writings, however, were not new. The Greek philosopher, Plato (429-347 B.C.), emphasized the effects that theatre has on the audience in his work The Republic. Plato’s answer to theatre’s effects offered a prescription to control those effects. Because the theatre has the power to affect an audience, it ought to have a moral and instructive function in society.(5) Horace (65-8 B.C.) also contributed support for Tertullian’s attack. In Ars [page 5] Poetica, Horace developed rules and precepts based upon the effects that theatre has on the audience that would result in theatre’s contribution in society as a tool to instruct as well as delight.

Plato’s emphasis served as a basis for attack against theatre throughout history, especially by the Christian community. Plato’s and Horace’s critical approach also influenced Renaissance defenders, for they answered Christian attacks. Thereby, Renaissance scholars necessarily developed critical structures that emphasized theatre’s moral and instructional function in society.

Nevertheless, Tertullian’s writings promoted the prejudice against the theatre within the Christian community. Attitudes by influential church members helped forge theatre theories and practices for several hundreds of years. Furthermore, for several hundreds of years, these same attitudes helped keep influential church members uninformed about the theatre. Consequently, the very people who attacked the theatre and who had significant input into theatre theory and practice were people who seldom knew what they were attacking and influencing, for they seldom practiced, read, or attended the theatre.

The persecution of Christians by the Roman government diminished under the rule of Constantine who issued the Edict of Milan in 313 A.D. This edict supported the complete tolerance of all religions including Christianity. While Constantine’s policy was inspired more by politics than religion, he opened the avenue for Christians to build their organization. Doing so, however, helped create certain problems. After the Edict of Milan, many people were free to join the religion. However, some of those who joined did so out of ulterior motives and consequently brought within the society non-Christian elements. Others joined because it was the popular thing to do. Consequently, they often did not change their life-style or their way of thinking that also yielded non-Christian elements. Other problems were the relationship between church and state and the growth of dogma.(6)

[page 6] The founder of Latin theology and the most powerful mind during the adolescent development of the church was St. Augustine (354-430). During his early adulthood, he was educated in philosophy and classical literature. In his middle age, he fell under the influence of Bishop Ambrose and converted to Christianity. Then in 395, he was appointed Bishop of Hippo in Africa and spent the rest of his life in pastoral work and in writing. His writings pertaining to the theatre, however, had great influence during the Medieval Age. A discussion of Augustine’s writings, therefore, belongs to that period.