My thanks, first of all, to those who gave me comments on the manuscript, the proposal or related material: Gabriel Doctor, Sebastian Gardner, Raymond Geuss, Lucy O'Brien, Sarah Richmond, Jonny Thakkar and the anonymous Routledge reviewers. On every page, I see improvements they made and, regrettably on my part, justified criticisms to which I have not done justice. This book has benefited enormously from conversations I've had with Harry Adamson, Michael Frayn, Rory Madden, Hugh Mellor, Véronique Munoz-Dardé, Lydia Wilson and the students in my class on philosophy and theatre – my thanks for their time. I am grateful to Tony Bruce and Adam Johnson at Routledge for their help and support. Various friends and family members have been kind enough to ask how the book was going (‘was it on something, theatre and something?’), of whom some have been indulgent enough to listen to the answer. Without the hard work and support of my UCL colleagues – academic and administrative, Philosophy and European Studies – I doubt this book could have seen the light of day. Thanks, finally, for all this and more, to Andrea Haslanger.