Truth in theatrical works

Abstract

The question of how to define truth in fiction has caught the interest of many philosophers. The reason for this lies in the complexity of claiming whether fictional entities exist or not. Most philosophers have dealt with truth in relation to prose fiction. My interest, on the contrary, lies in how we can identify truth in theatrical works. The question is intriguing because theatre contains literary as well as performative elements. The latter element renders it difficult to identify truth in theatre. There are immeasurable plays based on one script alone, and this makes it difficult to form true statements about a particular play. In this thesis, I take into account three different theories on truth in theatre. The first one is that of David Lewis. The truth conditions he provides and the possible worlds account are applicable only to prose fiction. He disregards the performative aspect of theatre, and that is why I eliminate his account. I next examine Kendall Walton’s imagination and prop theory, but I don’t find his account satisfactory either. Although Walton acknowledges the performative aspect of theatre, he cannot give an account of avant-garde theatre. I finally look into a more recent account, which is Michael Morris’s real likenesses view. Morris comes closest in defining truth in theatre, yet his account fails due to his inability of defining what the medium is in theatre. Ultimately, I argue that the existing theories of truth in fiction do not give a tenable account of truth in theatrical works.