The term "theatricality" holds a wide array of connotations, and not all them necessarily positive: role-playing, duplicity, artificiality, exaggeration. Consequently, theatre and theatricality were an ongoing target for suspicion and opposition in Western culture. In this seminar, we will try to elucidate the challenges posed by theatricality to the social and political order, by taking the anti-theatrical tradition seriously. Alongside, we will explore how theatre and theatricality have served as images and practices for forming the social and political order and undermining it, and which theatrical heritages could be relevant for us today.