Abstract

The essay aims to provide an in-depth analysis of the value of playing in Walter Benjamin’s theatrical vision, contextualising it within the broader reflection developed by the German philosopher on the aesthetics of image and representation, which in turn can be traced back to the centrality of the body and the relationships between the optical and the tactile sphere of perception. This, in turn, will intend to demonstrate how Benjamin’s interest in theatre cannot be limited, as usually happens, to his (nonetheless fundamental) relationship with Brecht and his writings on Epic Theatre, but, starting precisely from the perceived importance of the playful device in childhood, accompanies the entire parable of his research on mimesis, with particular reference to the dialectic between identification and alienation, between distance and closeness.