The Rough Theatre, part 2 (p. 93 to 109) Summary and Analysis

The author comments on how effective, socially engaged theatre in various cultures around the world seems to be "rough theatre"—theatre about change in cultures desperate for change whether that culture is conscious of that desperation or not. The challenge of theatre, in that context, is to address its relationship with society and ask itself what do the people want liberation from, and in what way that liberation should proceed.

In his consideration of Shakespeare's work the author suggests that Shakespeare's answer to the question of what people want in theatre can be found in the way the plays juxtapose the rough and the holy. In Shakespeare, the juxtaposition of rough and holy has parallels in those between poetry and prose, between short/fast/sensational scenes and long/slow/deep...