Scrapyard and another poem

My last post was pessimistic
But please don't think it's true.
I was just expressing
Another point of view.
When tragedy was started
Back in Ancient Greece
It was then regarded
As an intellectual feast.

Athens had decided
To have democracy
Despite its varied problems
It ought to fill with glee
Anyone who sees poor
History as a trip
Going from oppression
On an inclusive tip.

The theatre was the place where
The men would come and sit
To listen to a drama
And learn of life from it.
Euripides would give them
A good hard telling off
For imperialist decisions
Or making laws that scoff

At the rights of human beings:
Not always for the best.
But history has remembered
That he made a clear protest.
Adapting classic stories,
scenes from the Trojan War,
He gave them a new meaning
And made the heroes sore

With the spanking that he gave them
For their brutal attitudes.
He saw the pain of women
Caused by the macho dudes.

If Aristotle thought he did o
Kay by defending art
From Plato's smart objections,
He only made a start.
It's possible that drama
Can change the way we think.
Maybe in a post-show
Or chatting with a drink.

Scrapyard Manifesto and a Poem about Political Theatre

If, as Aristotle said,
Theatre's there to purge
Uncomfortable emotions
That we don't want to emerge
In our mundane work and life
During melancholic days
There's a real danger
In political plays.

Present me with an issue
In the form of tragedy
I can get rid of feelings
That are not good for me.
But political concerns
Are a matter beyond mind
It helps to have emotions
If solutions I can find.

Taking a good idea
And putting it on stage,
will, as Aristotle said,
Vomit up my rage.
The kind of social anger
That would get me on your side
Is soothed away whenever
Over actors I have cried.

Aeschylus made it clear
That a play can write a myth
Add in the feelings to
Stop an idea being stiff.
He wrote the Oresteia
To present patriarchal rule
As a good thing for the people
Who take theatre as a school.

Please don't think I'm saying
I agree with Ari's way
I did read his Poetics
Liked what he had to say.
But Brecht saw the problem,
And took a new technique
Instead of sympathetic
He made the play critique

The actions of the actors
The unfolding of the tale.
He picked up the aesthetic
Thought it rather stale.
He didn't want the tragic
He liked to be epic.
He thought poor Aristotle
An aristocratic prick.

The morale of the story,
The meaning of this rhyme
Is political theatre
Can be a deadly crime.
Saying your opinion
Through the means of script
Might seem like direct action,
But can be full of shit.