Staging Areopagitica : A report on what theater can borrow from courthouses to strengthen its civic function as an instrument of truth

Sammanfattning: Throughout the report, I argue for the virtues of allowing the contentious fictional narratives of poetry, theatre and myth to take place in the public's consciousness. In an attempt to deal with the spread of misinformation, societies have tended to favor censorship, which only deals with a symptom at the cost of the public's critical thinking. A better solution is to allow the audience to engage in the cultural and political discourse these subjects engage with, while signaling to them through design the importance of being critical. To illustrate how theatre and courthouses act as battlefields for truth I examine what historians, anthropologists, philosophers and poets have had to say about theatre's political nature as well as investigate one specific courthouse in detail, Umeå rådhus, including its current function, accessibility and juridical history. In relation to this, I examine how laws are made and how they relate to a societies morals according to legal theory and look into two plays in detail, to see what occurs when the clash between myth and law takes place on stage. Finally, I argue for their instructive value from a Miltonic perspective. I propose staging fiction in the rådhus' now vacant space to signal to the audience the importance of regarding both parties attentively as well as being scrupulous when passing judgment. In doing so, the rådhus reclaims for itself a fitting political agent.