For Arthur Miller, there were two types of theatre, which he labelled as “Majority” and “Other”. For the Majority, theatre was a form of entertainment, a brief form of escape from troubles, based on immediate needs and providing instant answers. The Other saw drama as a civic debate, airing the different sides of social and moral dilemmas in a public space, a tradition stemming from Greek drama and Shakespeare.
There is no question which of these categories Robert Icke falls into, his reputation burnished by loose adaptations of classic plays, rewriting or adding scenes to his productions so as to “find the right adaptor to make the electricity of the now flow”.
