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Theatre

Socrates and His Clouds

Katie Javanaud sees a dramatic vindication of Socrates.

In philosophy professor William Lyons’ new play, Socrates and His Clouds, recently premiered in London by The Meddlers’ Theatre Company, Socrates, finally, is vindicated!

Lyons’ drama is loosely based on Aristophanes’ ancient play The Clouds, written in 423BC. In this comedy, Aristophanes poked fun at Socrates and his school. Plato blamed the play for influencing the outcome of Socrates’ trial decades later. But whereas in Aristophanes’ play the figure of Socrates appears as a buffoon and a sophist (and an extremely pungent one at that), Lyons’ Socrates is a free-thinker encouraging a new trend in the education system, namely to make students self-reliant in their thinking.

The play deals with an array of issues facing the modern world: including the precipice on which morality itself now tilters, the failures of modern educational systems, and the misuse of political power.

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