Cancelling Socrates: how the great philosopher sealed his fate with comedy
Playwright Howard Brenton asks why ancient Athens turned on its famous citizen, and how such an uncompromising free-thinker might fare in our own 'age of rage' Did Socrates "cancel" himself? At his trial in Athens, in 399BC, did he deliberately incense the jury with an outrageous comic speech to ensure they condemned him to death? Socrates was charged with denying the gods exist and inventing new ones, and of corrupt…