I have been fascinated watching the TV coverage of the events following the death of the Queen. I’ve had my anthropological hat on all day, and the symbolic work that is being done in relation to our political life here is quite impressive. There was the memorial event at St. Pauls’ Cathedral last night, the session of the Privy Council this morning, then the reading of the proclamation outside St. James’ Palace, and the reprise of that event outside the Royal Exchange. I know that there will be other ceremonies, but I think that I have latched onto the general idea. The astonishing thing about all of this is the fact that it is all pure theatre, with heightened language, choreographed movement and some amazing costumes.
We are offered in all of this succession drama one of the oldest narratives of theatre going back to the classical period. The threat of the end of life as we know it is averted and the hope of a future of revival is assured. It might well appear to be over the top, but I can see its public function. If anyone should be so foolish as to believe that the arts have a purely decorative and peripheral function in society they ought be compelled to watch today’s output of British TV. Where would our political system be without theatre? It wasn’t directed by Danny Boyle, but it might well have been.