The theater is not a safe place, Mr. Trump

Much has been made of Donald Trump’s tweets regarding the “rude” treatment of Mike Pence by the cast of Hamilton. There is a perception that the theater is a tame place. It is not. At least it is not when it is at its best.

The theater has been political since the beginning. According to the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama, “The theatre in democratic Athens was a forum for exploring the most contentious of political issues.”

There are courses taught on Moliere and Shakespeare’s politics. What on God’s green earth do you think MacBeth is about?

Mr. Trump's contention that the theater “must always be a safe and special place” is nonsense. It shows a misunderstanding of theater and politics for that matter. Never mind that the characters in Hamilton are literally politicians.

The booing that happened to Mr. Pence sounded jestful. There was no conviction behind it. If you want booing, you go to the opera — in Italy.

I’ve no proof, but booing might have started in an opera house. La Scala in Milan is famous (infamous) for booing performers off the stage.

Of late, theater and opera have become commercialized and thereby had their spines removed. Modern impresarios have discovered that the people with money to spend on opera tickets don’t want to be criticized by their entertainment.

As I mentioned with Tosca, Don Giovanni, and the lack thereof in Lakme, politics drove the consumption of opera for generations. There was a legitimate risk that composers took.

In Rigoletto, Verdi used an extinct line of nobility as the destructive force. The Duke of Mantua annihilates Rigoletto’s family without even realizing it. He’s just the Duke being the Duke. The criticism is crystal clear. However, even in the mid-19th Century Verdi had to be careful.

The entire Ring Cycle by Wagner is about the destruction of the corrupt gods (read: aristocracy) and the establishment of a new order. It’s all politics, and it wasn’t safe. Wagner was exiled for decades because of his political activities.

Get out of here with this theater being a “safe place” BS.