January Conference 1999
THEATRE
: ANCIENT & MODERN
ABSTRACTS
On
Editing and Translating Menander
W.G.
Arnott, University of Leeds, U.K
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The problem that one faces when editing and translating Menander for the Loeb series are illustrated by discussion of a single passage: Samia 96-110. The proposed text and translation are set out, its dramatic background explained, and the problems highlighted. These involve questions about the correct text in lines 96-98, about the most appropriate way to translate aijsqavnesq' j in 96, pacei'~ in 98, [ Apollon in 100, and finally about two disputed points of interpretation. The first of these concerns the speaker or speakers of 96-105, where arguments are given for assigning all these lines to the character Demeas. Secondly, the stage business in 96-111 is examined, with the physical movements of Demeas and several mute slaves on the stage with him interpreted on the basis of the spoken text.
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Visual
and verbal symbolism in Greek tragedy:
The case of the uncut rock in Oedipus at Colonus
Felix
Budelmann, University of Manchester, U.K.
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This article is concerned with symbolism in Greek tragedy. It argues that symbolism is often generated by the interplay of the visual and the verbal dimension of a play. Partly, this is a matter of emphasis: if spectators see and hear something, they are more likely to think about its meaning. And partly, it is the discrepancy between the words spectators hear and the things they see that may make them interpret something as a symbol: at one level, they see a stage building, at another they hear of the house of Atreus. This discrepancy may prompt thoughts about the different kinds of thing this building may stand for.
By far the greatest part of the article is taken up by the discussion of one particular instance of symbolism: the uncut rock, which appears at various points throughout Oedipus at Colonus. The article explores the ways in which the rock can be regarded as symbolic of various of Oedipus' afflictions as well as his strength. In a similar paradox, the rock both symbolises Oedipus' impending death and points to the fact that this death, at the level of cult, is much more than a death. Much of this, it should be stressed, is most elusive, but what becomes clear beyond doubt is that, between them, the language and (as far as it can be reconstructed) the stage action of the play give the uncut rock a wide range of symbolic meanings. The article ends, therefore, by emphasising the scope for further work that considers these two aspects together, rather than concentrating on either one.
Plato's
Use Of Theatrical Terminology
Nikos
Charalabopoulos, University of Cambridge, U.K.
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In the present paper I comment on the use of certain theatrical terms in Plato, whose language attests to an intense theatricalisation of Hellenic culture.
Terminology, the most explicit element of theatrical language, is the focus of my study. Four passages have been selected, in which the nature of the application of particular terms is examined, and general implications for the textual interpretation are drawn. The passages and the related terms are:
Qšatron
(a)Symp. 194a-c. Agathon attempts to secure a favourable response to his speech on Eros, by identifying his fellow-sypmosiasts with a theatrical audience. Socrates turns the tables against him and forces Agathon to abandon his initial plan.
(b) Critias 108b,d. Socrates introduces the image of theatrical contest as an analogy to the set of speeches generated by Timaeus. Critias adopts and corroborates it.
Poiht»j 'Upokrit»j
(c) Charm. 162d. Critias is outraged by the provocative behaviour of his younger cousin Charmides and decides to supplant him as Socrates' interlocutor. Critias' anger reminds Socrates of the similar reaction of a playwright when his play is ill-performed by his actor.
'UpodÚomai
(d) Gorg. 464b-e. In his discussion with Polus Socrates explains how the false art of flattery divides itself in four parts and pretends to assume the role of the genuine arts of medicine, gymnastics, legislation and justice. There is also a reference to an imagined contest between a doctor and a cook (which could have very well been the plot of a mime).
Initial
Entrances in Three Sophoclean Tragedies
David
Fitzpatrick, University of Nottingham, U.K.
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The paper examines
the initial entrances of Trachiniae, Ajax and Oedipus
Tyrannus. These entrances have been chosen not only as a representative
sample of Sophoclean beginnings but also because they pose specific
questions about how the performance was arranged in the Theatre
of Dionysus at Athens.
Firstly, it considers
if the initial entrance that marked the beginning of Trachiniae
had Deianeira enter from the skene accompanied by her
Nurse. Then it examines the entrance and subsequent location of
Athena in the prologue of Ajax: an issue that has long
been the source of conflicting interpretations. The basic problem
here is whether the goddess addresses Odysseus from stage level
or from a higher acting level. Finally, it considers whether or
not the entrance of the suppliants, which precedes the entry of
Oedipus at the beginning of Oedipus Tyrannus, should be
considered a 'cancelled entry'.
The paper attempts
to resolve these issues by placing the performance in the context
of the plays' emerging themes and characters as they are presented
in the prologue or as the original audience in the Theatre of
Dionysus at Athens might have perceived this presentation. The
solutions offered here not only illustrate Sophocles' highly developed
sense of dramatic art and action but also highlight a close association
between thematic development and actual physical dramatic action.
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Marking
The Messenger :
Language and Function in Greek Tragedy
Lynn
Fotheringham, University of Nottingham, U.K.
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The 'messenger-speech',
a piece of narrative inserted into drama, is seen by some as an
undramatic aspect of tragedy; the occasional omission of the augment
(past-tense marker) in these speeches has been taken as an epicism,
a reference to narrative or undramatic literature. This paper
examines Sophoclean messengers, who are not undramatic, but reflect
the concern of the dramas with the status both of those who provide
information and of the information itself. Since information is
also exchanged by characters who are not anonymous messengers,
it becomes important to ask whether the messenger role or function
is marked as different from other dramatic roles. Potential markers
include the use of the Greek word angelos, and the characteristic
messenger behaviour such as the unwillingness to bring bad tidings
or the expectation of being rewarded for good news. These cannot
be shown to be necessary markers of the messenger-role, though
their use may indicate some reference to the repetition of dramatic
patterns; they are best interpreted according to the context of
individual plays. The paper then examines the occurrence of augment
omission, and concludes that the statistics which have been used
to explain this phenomenon are flawed. An explanation based on
the presumption that 'messenger-speeches' contain more past-tense
verbs than the rest of tragedy turns out to be unlikely. Clustering
in individual plays suggests that, like other potential markers
of the messenger function, this linguistic phenomenon should be
interpreted with an eye to individual context.
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Shaw's
response to the deus ex machina:
From The Quintessence of Ibsenism to Heartbreak House
Miriam
Handley, University of Sheffield, UK
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In
The Quintessence of Ibsenism (1891) Shaw described the
deus ex machina as a 'puerile evasion' of the ethical problems
raised by a text. His essay goes on to suggest that any intervention
in the unravelling of the plot, divine or providential, had become
a redundant device for playwrights writing the 'new' drama of
discussion. Nearly thirty years later, however, Shaw wrote
Heartbreak House and concluded the play with a series of explosions
that his characters and reviewers interpreted as a deus ex
machina. This article considers the contradiction between Shaw's
early criticism of the deus ex machina and his subsequent
decision to make use of the device in his own dramatic writing.
The article contextualises
Shaw's disapproval of the deus ex machina by examining
the ways in which late- nineteenth-century classical scholars
responded to the device. References to coup de théâtre in
texts by Haigh and Verrall indicate that, like Shaw, these scholars
interpreted the deus ex machinaby comparing it to a device
more commonly found in nineteenth-century melodrama. The article
continues by locating examples of the deus ex machina in
Shaw's plays and by demonstrating the device's changing role.
It concludes with a discussion of the deus ex machina in
Heartbreak House, and suggests that its appearance in this
play indicates Shaw's recognition of the relevance of Greek theatre
to twentieth-century Britain particularly in the wake of the First
World War.
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Theatres of the Mind:
Greek Tragedy in Women's Writing in England
in the Nineteenth Century
Lorna
Hardwick, The Open University, U.K.
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This article considers
the way in which women's writing in English in the nineteenth
century engaged with Greek literature and drama. Discussing the
writing of Augusta Webster and Amy Levy, it explores the relationship
between translation and new work and suggests that focus on particular
Greek texts and figures was not only significant for other aspects
of their lives and work but also part of a broader process of
iconic shift and cultural critique.
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Electra:
A Fragmented Woman
Ruth
Hazel, The Open University, U.K.
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Different portraits
of Electra are given in the work of the three great tragedians.
In the last twenty years, Sophocles' play Electrahas received
most theatrical attention in Britain, but this paper will compare
readings of this tragedy in professional performance with readings
of the character of Electra through performance in Aeschylus's
Choephoroiand in Euripides' Electra. Particular
attention will be paid to the way modern staging has re-interpreted
the three ancient playwrights' portaits of a woman broken by circumstances
but constantly attempting to reconstruct an identity for herself.
It will be shown
that, whereas Aeschylus's Choephoroiinvites a non-realistic or 'authentic'staging, the dominance and complexity of Sophocles'
Electra attracts actors, and the antiheroism of Euripides' play,
directors. Moreover, it will be suggested that theatre practitioners
- especially directors, actors and designers - increasingly use
an intertextual approach, and allow one fragment of the dramatic
composite 'Electra' to inform another.
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The
Language of Plautus's Parasites
Robert
Maltby, University of Leeds, U.K.
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The paper identifies
four Plautine parasites who are characterised as professional
jesters or ridiculi: Peniculus (Menaechmi), Ergasilus (Captivi),
Saturio (Persa) and Gelasimus (Stichus). All four
show a marked interest in verbal humour and are linked by their
reliance on the joke-book tradition. The paper investigates the
literary background, both Greek and Roman, to this tradition and
identifies certain forms of humour, often based on the use of
nick-names and personifications, that characterise this type of
parasite. There follows a detailed analysis of the parasites'
opening monologues, which throws light on the verbal humour and
Latin double-entendres they contain. The conclusion is
that all four are used in their opening scenes as 'stand-up' comedians
whose task is to 'warm up' the audience before the play proper
begins. Their opening monologues, which are often quite similar
to each other, are developed far beyond the strict requirements
of the plot and contain much purely Roman material.
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Black
Dionysus: Greek Tragedy from Africa
Marianne
McDonald, University of California, San Diego, USA
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Playwrights from
Africa used the classics to voice their political views, besides
create new works of art. The Greeks, and particularly the figures
of Antigone and Dionysus, can represent the individual, civil
rights, and freedom. The classics provide a literature of protest.
Since societies and governments appreciate the value of the classics,
people who perceive themselves oppressed can use it to express
their discontent.
The plays here
discussed are: Ola Rotimi's The Gods are not to Blame(1968),
based on Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus; Wole Soyinka's
The Bacchae of Euripides: A Communion Rite (1973); Athol Fugard's
The Island(1973), Orestes (1975), and Dimetos
(1975).
Rotimi's play is
a parable for the intertribal fighting of Africa, and naturally
the war Rotimi knew best, the Biafran war. His play also incorporates
local lore and humorous folktales, as he bemoans the continual
fighting.
The Nigerian Wole
Soyinka, has tapped into the ritualistic nature of song and dance
at the heart of the origin of Greek tragedy as well as of African
religion. He knows the history of African slavery, and slaves
figure prominently in his version of Euripides. Dionysus leads
a revolt and frees the slaves.
Whereas Soyinka's
Bacchae follows Euripides closely, and is highly ritualistic,
Fugard's The Island is realistic and is in fact based on
a true story: prisoners on Robben Island did actually enact Sophocles'
Antigone in this way, using it as a vehicle to critique
abusive authority and to be heartened by Antigone's lesson: never
to lose sight of the 'unwritten laws of the gods.'
Each of these playwrights
put the original Greek tragedies in contemporary settings and
use them to express political and human needs.
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Ancient
Greek Drama in the New South Africa
Margaret
R. Mezzabotta, University of Cape Town, South Africa
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The paper examines
issues connected with the reception of ancient Greek drama in
the 'new', democratic South Africa. It focuses on two post-apartheid
productions inspired by Greek tragedy: Medea, directed
by Mark Fleishman and Jennie Reznek, performed in three South
African centres in the period 1994-1996, and In the City of
Paradise, another Fleishman concept, showcased in Cape Town
in April 1998. Both plays were workshopped by their respective
multiracial casts from (in the first case) Greek and Roman dramatic
or literary treatments of the myth of Medea and Jason and (in
the second instance) from the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and
Euripides that deal with the mythical figures of Orestes and Electra.
These productions
are evaluated as examples of the successful adaptation of an ancient
art form, rooted in a distant and unfamiliar civilisation, to
a different cultural setting shaped by different historical and
political forces. The paper examines the devices used to render
classics of Greek dramaturgy accessible to modern South African
audiences. Innovations such as the introduction of South African
languages other than English into the primarily English dialogue
and the employment of traditional African and Indian dance forms
transported the action from the ancient Greek world and its environs
to multicultural South Africa. These two re-workings of original
Greek plays explored basic human problems in contemporary South
African society in ways that helped to clarify the audience's
insights into the challenges posed for the future by the legacy
of apartheid.
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The
Spring Before It Is Sprung:
visual and non-verbal aspects of power struggle in
Aeschylus' Myrmidons
Pantelis
Michelakis, University of Oxford, U.K.
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Aeschylus'
Myrmidons is the first play of a lost trilogy about Achilles,
called for convenience Achilleis. Together with the Nereids
and the Phrygians or Ransom of Hector, the
Myrmidons gave in dramatic form a great deal of the story of
the Iliad.Leaving aside the socio-political issues involved
in the decision of the Achaeans to stone Achilles and the homosexual
relation between Achilles and Patroclus, this paper focuses on
another important theme of the play, namely Achilles' immobility
and silence. My aim is twofold: first, to argue for the importance
of non-linguistic and visual structures for the articulation of
meaning on the tragic stage of the early fifth century BC; second,
to show ways in which contemporary vase painters and late fifth-century
comedy, while pursuing their own interests, can help us reconstruct
the visual and non-linguistic conventions upon which Aeschylus
draws in his tragedy
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Enter
Odysseus: Greek Theatrical Conventions and Sophocles' Philoctetes
Eleanor
O'Kell, University of Exeter, U.K.
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This paper will
discuss the relation between understanding Greek theatrical conventions
and understanding the characters of Greek Drama. The paper will
consider the way in which the ancient and modern audiences' perception
of Greek theatrical conventions differs and the difference in
perception of characters which this may produce.
In each section
a Greek theatrical convention (three actors, describing the scenery
and immediate locale and announcing entrances and exits, and the
deus ex machina) will be discussed with regard to performing
Sophocles' Philoctetes and this discussion will then focus
on the implications for the character(s) of Odysseus.
The allocation
of roles to the 'Odysseus' actor (Odysseus, merchant, Heracles)
will be examined as a means by which to assess the conventions'
contributions to the audience's understanding of a dramatic character.
The role combination will be considered in conjunction with
i) textual references
(identifying tags, similarities of vocabulary and characterisation
etc.) which indicate that the 'merchant' and 'Heracles' could
be Odysseus in disguise and
ii) the similarity
of method and motivation for entrances used by the three dramatic
entities.
This treatment will
demonstrate that it is not only possible for both the 'merchant'
and 'Heracles' to be Odysseus in disguise but that the audience
could recognise this in performance and that this approach yields
a different reading of the play than one which does not consider
performance issues.
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(Mis)Translating
Tragedy: Irish Poets and Greek Plays
Des O'Rawe, Queens University, Belfast, U.K.
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Over the last decade
or so, contemporary Irish writers have been translating for the
stage a range of commissioned and non-commissioned works from
classical Greek tragedy. In so doing, these writers have sought
to offer their audiences alternative ('mythic') touchstones for
the important political and social debates of the day. This paper
argues that, for the most part, the blending of Irish poetry with
Greek tragedy continues to be ideologically implausible and formally
unsuccessful.
The plays under
discussion will include: Tom Paulin's The Riot Act(1985),
Seamus Heaney's The Cure at Troy (1990), Brendan Kennelly's
Antigone(1986), Medea (1988) and The Trojan
Women (1993), Desmond Egan's Medea (1991) and Philoctetes(1998)
and Derek Mahon's The Bacchae (1991).
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Profound
Ambiguities in Sophocles' and Anouilh's Antigone
Dr
Jan Parker, Open University, U.K.
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The argument is
that the simple issue in Sophocles' Antigone- was Antigone
right to bury Polyneices? - is rendered complex by a tissue of
word play upon philia as a bond (for good and bad) between
family members vs philia as a emotional feeling or as a
willed, decided, bond between allies. The revaluations and appropriations
of philia, the development of Antigone's character, the
sense in which Antigone is doomed by her parenting all obscure
Antigone's simple imperative - the dead must be buried - until
the only imperative is the tragic one - that Antigone must die.
Why she must die is seen to be a dramatically engineered and profoundly
tragic ambiguity.
In preserving Sophoclean
ambiguity and complexity, Anouilh' s play keeps faith and active
relationship with Sophocles'. To argue this entails proposing
a criterion of 'faithfulness' to the dramatic dynamics of the
original play. This faithfulness is distinguished from that of
certain modern productions of the play which despite using literal
verbal translations resolve rather than dramatise such ambiguities.
Anouilh's capacity to 'receive' this Sophoclean complexity makes
his text an example of successful reception, despite his manifold
changes to the text - successful on a scale of judgement running
from 'fidelity' to 'betrayal'. The article is intended to be provocative,
to challenge the growing consensus that literalness lies in closeness
of words and to challenge directors of modern productions to transmit
rather than resolve the profound ambiguities that gave Sophocles'
play its dramatic power.
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The
Parodos of Aristophanes’ Knights
Keith
Sidwell, University College Cork, Ireland
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The identity of
the chorus of Knights seems indisputable
- they are the horsemen of Athens. But the parodos contains a
problem. Paphlagon summons his own troops (old jurors) at 255-7,
but replies to the next choral intervention at 266 as though speaking
to a group different from the one he has hitherto been speaking
with. Textual indications seem to suggest that old jurors have
entered, but have reacted differently from Paphlagon’s expectations.
If so, this must mean that the jurors enter dressed as knights,
but still recognisably old. The play has two semi-choruses, with
distinct identities, not one. If this reconstruction is right,
it can only have been amusing and meaningful if the old jurors
were already known to the audience. They could have been known
from comedy. Recently, arguments have been advanced by the author
to show that Knights is a metacomic play and in particular
that Eupolis’ alleged involvement with its composition was
a joke based on the audience’s recognition of the intended
parody of his work. Knights is at the centre of an elaborate
parodic game played between Eupolis, Kratinus and Aristophanes.
Even the parabasis is involved, representing not Aristophanes’,
but Eupolis’ voice, while it is not Eupolis’ voice we
hear in fr. 89, but Aristophanes’. The ‘bald poet’
is not Aristophanes, but Kratinus. And the old jurors of Knights
come from a Kratinus play. Knights is a parody of Eupolis’
parody of Kratinus.
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GREEK TRAGEDY AND STORYTELLING :
A FRESH LOOK AT NARRATIVE AND PERFORMANCE
Steve
Woodward, The Open University, UK
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Having established
that Greek myths can be seen as journeys of self-discovery, I
shall be looking at the narrative structures that underlie them
and which in performance have been used in diverse ways. I shall
look at two modern examples of performance of Greek myth (one
from storytelling and one from film) and, by comparing them with
the Greek tragic drama on which they are both based, I will show
how mythic narrative structures are retold and negotiated in individual
and group journeys of self-discovery.
The starting-point
will be the idea of myths as journeys of self-discovery in the
search for identity, starting from Madan Sarup's analysis in Identity
Culture and the Post-modern World (Edinburgh, 1996). In particular,
the life-story of Oedipus can be seen in this light.
The Oedipus storyline
will be shown diachronically to tell his life-story. An extract
from this, the events leading up to Oedipus' encounter with the
Sphinx, will be selected, described and analysed in terms of suitability
for storytelling performance.
Audience reception
of the storyline will then be examined. This will be done through
dramatic re-enactments based on an oral storytelling performance
to children aged 12-13. It will be shown how they negotiate narrative
structures in their search for recreation of meaning.
A parallel example
from film of retelling of this storyline (Pasolini's Edipo
Re) will be examined, showing that, just as he children as
proactive audience and then as performers have appropriated storyline
in a particular way, so has the film director in a way appropriate
to his medium.
A comparison will
then be made between the improvised re-enactments, the film version
and the Oedipus Tyrannus of Sophocles, showing that in
each case a particular use of the narrative structures is made.
The conclusion
will be that myth in general, and the Oedipus myth in particular,
have the basic structure of a journey which is flexible enough
to allow for different retellings and negotiations to suit the
medium of performance of those who are using it in their journeys
of self-discovery.
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Classical Receptions in Drama and Poetry in English