Howard Brenton’s Thirteenth Night: A Contemporary Path to Tyranny and Dictatorship

OpenAlex · English

Howard Brenton's fantasy play, Thirteenth Night, is the movement of Shakespeare's Macbeth in a not so distant future left wing totalitarian Britain for a Socialist government. It is generally considered as a feedback of tiptoeing oppression and constriction of socialism. In the opening part, Jack Beaty, the communist visionary, is hit over the head and dreams of another world in which he himself can guide individuals to rebel against degenerate types of government and reliance on American cash through his communist talks. His socialist utopia quickly degenerates into a Stalinist dictatorship. His dictatorship is unbearable, yet this last discourse demands that the gathering of people considers what reasonable options there are if socialism is really to grab hold and make due in Britain. As his dream turns to nightmare, Beaty slides into further murder and eventual madness before himself being killed in a second coup d’etat.