By S. E. Wilmer

Theater has frequently served as a touchstone for severe moments of political swap or nationwide definition. Steve Wilmer selects key old moments in American historical past to ascertain the theater's reaction. the chosen occasions variety from the Colonial struggle for independence via local American struggles, the Socialist employee play and the Civil Rights move, to these of the decade. Wilmer additionally considers viewers reception and important reaction.

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Although there is evidence that some of these plays were read in gatherings and were performed by college students (especially those produced during the War of Independence), they were mainly written for publication and were disseminated as part of the Patriot propaganda campaign. Radical republicans printed pamphlets to identify the rights of the settlers in America, to list their grievances against the British government, and eventually to rally support for a nationalist struggle to achieve political independence.

The American Patriots) grow enraged by his violent military actions. At the end of the play Brutus ( James Otis) longs for retribution in words that anticipate the War of Independence: When will it be, When high-souled honor beats within our bosoms, And calls to action – when thy sons like heroes, Shall dare assert thy rights, and with their swords, Like men, like freemen, force a way to conquest Or on thy ruins gloriously expire. (p. 31) In comparing the Patriots to the Roman senators fighting the oppressive imperial authority of Caesar, The Adulateur utilized a popular metaphor to justify American rebellion.

P. 5) Likewise at the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University), a musical tribute entitled The Military Glory of Great Britain was performed in 1762 to assert the might of the British war machine. Praising the military victories of the recent past in various parts of the globe, the piece predicted a glorious victory for Britain in the French and Indian War, and the punishment of her enemies: Ye Sons of War, pursue the Foe; Your Albemarle has struck th’auspicious Blow. See, Victory waits with laurel-Wreath to crown Your Temples; fondly hovering round Your glittering Arm.

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