Rehm characterizes Athens as a performance culture where theatre stood alongside other public forums as a place to confront matters of import and moment.Emphasizing the political nature of Greek tragedy, as theatre of, by and for the polis, Rush Helm characterizes Athens as a performance culture, one in which the theatre stood alongside other public forums as a place to confront matters of import and moment. In treating the various social, religious, and practical aspects of tragic production, he shows how these elements promoted a vision of the theatre as integral to the life of the city - a theatre, whose focus was on the audience.