Augustinian influence on Maltese theatre

Abstract

The relationship between the institution of the Catholic Church and the theatre in the West has been ambiguous. The same Church that condemned the theatre on the grounds that it reminded it of the suffering and humiliation that the Christian community experienced in some forms of theatrical events practised in the Roman Empire, referred to as the “theatre of the demons,”1 is the same Church that four centuries later reintroduced the theatre as a vehicle to spread the fundamentals of Christian theology to an illiterate congregation. The notion of theatre, associated with immorality and idolatry of false gods, was reclaimed by the Church as a means to kindle its community with the spirit of faith.