Classical Receptions in Drama and Poetry in English
from c.1970 to the Present  

Current/Forthcoming Productions in UK & Ireland

(listing is in reverse date order)

2010

Antigone by Jean Anouilh
March 23-27
translation by Lewis Galantière, Director Janet Bola
Performed by Oxford Theatre Guild
Box Office: 01865 305305
www.oxfordplayhouse.com
www.oxfordtheatreguild.com

Medea a new version by Tom Paulin
February 2-6, the Oxford Playhouse
Performed by Northern Broadsides, Directed by Barrie Rutter
Evenings: Tue – Thu & Sat, 7.30pm, Fri 8pm; Matinees: Thu & Sat 2.30pm
Saturday 1pm : Pre show introductory talk with Helen Eastman, Producer of the Onassis Programme; Post show talk, Tue 2nd
Tickets: £11 – 24
Box Office: 01865 305305
www.oxfordplayhouse.com
www.northern-broadsides.co.uk
Additional Onassis Programme events at the theatre:
Tue – Sat: The Top Room, Medea in Performance: An Exhibition of 2000 years of Performance History
Thur 1pm : Pre show schools' talk with Dr. Fiona Macintosh, introduced by Prof. Oliver Taplin.  Book via the theatre
Friday morning: A masterclass for University students with Barrie Rutter
Email  onassis@classics.ox.ac.uk  for more information

Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles

Wednesday 24 and Thursday 25 February, Lecture Theatre, Emmanuel College, Cambridge, 7.30 pm. Admission free.
Before each performance, from 7.00 to 7.15 pm, there will be an Introductory Talk by a specialist (Professor Pat Easterling on Wednesday; Dr Renaud Gagné on Thursday).
The same speakers will also lead a Discussion about the play at 5.00 pm on Monday 1 March in the Faculty of Classics.
The performance will last about 75 minutes.

The Director, Professor Patrick Boyde, will be drawing on the experience gained with five successful dramatisations from the Odyssey in the same theatre and the same kind of mise-en-scène (Nausicaa, 2005; Penelope, 2007; Anticleia, Calypso, 2008; Circe, 2009).

The play will be read in the original Greek, but every twist in the plot will be as easy to follow as in a subtitled film in a foreign language, thanks to elegant surtitles which will be projected alongside new drawings by a local artist and images from ancient art; and every shift in the emotions of the characters will be reflected in the spoken rhythms of Sophocles' words.

Live performances of short pieces for violin by Béla Bartók will punctuate the play, enhancing its tragic intensity and its guarded affirmation of human worth. The play maps out some of the 'ways of God[s] to men' in a crucial phase of the disasters that befell the royal house of Thebes. It does not seek to 'justify' those inscrutable ways, as Milton did, but it does hold out a ray of hope - for Athens at least - while Oedipus, who continues to curse his sons to the very end, takes leave of his daughters with the words: 'all your travails are redeemed by one word, Love'.

Your enjoyment will be increased if you are able to attend the introductory talk given before each performance and the open discussion of the play a few days later, when you will be able to share your impressions with other members of the audience and put your questions to the two experts from the Faculty of Classics.
To reserve a seat please contact: Dr Dorothy Thompson (djt17 AT cam.ac.uk)