Overview

Lorna Hardwick, The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK

Looking across the February and March seminars, it seems that two distinct strands of debate are emerging. The first has to do with THEATRICAL LANGUAGE in the sense both of the ‘language’ of Greek theatrical performance itself and of the language through which we discuss it. It seems that both are now thought to be culturally loaded so that even the ‘language’ of performance isn’t as ‘objective’ or accessible as might be imagined (so goodbye to the notion of the theatre of convention as a safe ‘objective’ area of study?). Perhaps it’s appropriate that  post-modern theorists refer to the ambivalence of language as ‘Janus-like’?

The second strand is ‘MOTIVES’ (to use David Gowen’s phrase). This issue was raised in the February seminar and almost everyone has referred to it, even if only indirectly. So why are we presenting and discussing ancient plays at all, let alone researching Reception and performance issues generally? Various suggestions have been offered: - ‘shaping future generations’ (McDonald), preserving performance traditions and raising awareness of the impact of the conventions (McCart), enabling a wide range of people to experience ‘spiritual and emotional depth’ (Meineck). To which one might add interest in the role of drama and myth as a catalyst for interaction with other cultures and genres, or even, more prosaically, as a means of drawing more students into Classical study. Is the crucial issue for us, the extent to which these ‘motives’ shape research and teaching methods and the means we adopt for being as open as we can about the methods we are using and our reasons for them? (There are some newish researchers among our ‘lurkers’. I’d very much welcome comment from them about how they deal with this particular issue).

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CONTRIBUTIONS

David Gowan, Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama,
Oxford University, UK

In undertaking to compile an international production history of ancient drama on the post-medieval stage, The Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama seeks to document the modern reception of classical plays as objectively as possible by recording in our database as many "facts" as are "known" about a production.  In order to turn the computer on, decisions concerning when a 'performance' becomes a 'production', and when a 'production' becomes a 'run', needed to be reached early on.  For our purposes the four elements considered rudimentary to distinguishing one production from another comprise:

1) the ancient play (or plays) on which a staging is based;

2) the year in which it originated;

3) the country in which it originated; and

4) the director (or directors) credited with its realisation.

Wherever possible, a number of additional elements are included for each entry.  Of particular importance, we feel, are:

5) the language (or languages) in which a production was enacted; and

6) the translation (or translations) employed.

We also endeavour to identify as specifically as possible:

7) the geographical location at which the production originated (noting any subsequent tours);

8) the theatre company (or companies) involved in its staging; and

9) the venue at which it originated (with special attention given to changes of venue during the run).

As we are interested in all manners of performance, and in all degrees of interpretation, two additional categories in our basic "Productions" table account for:

10) the principal medium of performance (dance, film, opera, orchestration, radio, readings, scenes/workshops, stage, television, video); and

11) the degree to which the production adheres to, or deviates from, its ancient source/s (close translation, free translation, imitation, adaptation, reconstruction, improvisation, burlesque, distant relative).

This latter category, involving interpretation, conflicts with our remit of objectivity, since it is we who presume to pronounce on a production's faithfulness to its source play--often centuries after the revival, invariably millennia after the original.  We are therefore constantly struggling with a number of questions concerning, for example, the point at which a 'free translation' becomes an 'adaptation', and at which an 'adaptation' becomes a new play altogether.  While hoping that our records will enable analyses of the "cultural shift" to which Lorna Hardwick referred in the previous seminar, we must acknowledge our own relativistic biases in the reception of reception.

Notwithstanding this need for a good deal of theoretical fine tuning, we are simultaneously attempting to log as many productions as possible on to our database in order to provide as representative a sample as possible from among the innumerable productions of ancient drama on the modern stage.  And, as the companion branch to our project, we are continuing to collect an enormous variety of materials, from around the world, connected with such productions--including posters, programmes, reviews, designs, photographs, audio tapes and video recordings.  We warmly agree with Marianne McDonald that such records should reflect an 'international' history.  At present our only significant leads outside of Europe and North America originate in Israel and Japan; but we hope to see our information base broaden continuously.

We look forward to the opportunity of discussing some of these questions further in July, at which time we shall be hosting the Archive's first conference, entitled "Medea in Performance: 1500-2000".

Peter Meineck, University of South Carolina, USA, Aquila Theatre Company

I am working on several projects relating to Greek drama. At the moment my theatre company is about half way through a 52 city US tour with a production of Aristophanes' BIRDS, this is touring alongside JULIUS CAESAR, which makes a nice political double-bill (and yes, I do believe that BIRDS is a very political play, but I don’t want to get into that here). Also I teach at the University of South Carolina where I have been introducing Honors Students, most of whom are not Liberal Arts majors, to the study and appreciation of Greek theatre. Just recently the Theatre Department here staged a cut version of my Oresteia which was directed by Robert Richmond, Aquila's artistic director. In addition I am putting the finishing touches to a number of translations for Hackett Press.

The point I would like to raise this time around is to open up this discussion to examine the wider perception of Greek drama amongst the general public. Touring heavily in the US and playing in the UK has convinced me that there is an enormous gulf between scholars working in this field and the general public. This kind of information gap could be said to exist to a certain extent in other forms of Classical drama, particularly Shakespeare, but it seems to me that with Greek theatre this gap is often of Grand Canyon proportions.

The general perception of Greek drama seems firmly rooted in 19th century ideals and audiences are often stunned and shocked, sometimes even deeply offended if a production deviates from these "traditional" notions. Some of the most exciting developments in our understanding of Greek drama that have occurred over the last 30 or so years do not seem to be trickling down and overtly affecting the man or woman in the street. Advances in our understanding of these plays have been huge and not just in the areas of ritual, civics, gender and other social issues. How can Classicists and Theatre scholars effectively communicate these exciting and enticing elements to the audiences and readers of today?

One growing area has been the desire to catalogue modern performances of Greek drama such as the Oxford archive and the APA list, but I worry about some of the broad database definitions applied to these productions, what is a "traditional" production? At what point does a translation become an adaptation? Is our future opinion of these productions to be based on the word of a small number of critics with their own agendas (what a frightening thought!). Perhaps we can all agree the study of "performance" of Greek drama is fast developing into its own subject area and with this in mind maybe we need to frame this subject in some way and seek to explain and explore trends and motives. It seems to me that this would be a good starting point in helping to get the word out and pointing interested people in the right direction.

In the 10 years I have been involved in staging Greek plays it has become clear that the boundaries between the Classicist and Dramatist are breaking down. The more communication between these two previously disparate groups the more we will understand the subject and be able to promote it. The presentation of a Greek play on a college campus is an excellent way for any Classics Department to gain a larger profile amongst its community and this must be a good thing. Equally a professional production playing in the local Visiting Arts Series or a big West-End/Broadway show puts Greek drama in the forefront of the public's mind.

How we can prepare audiences to best enjoy Greek drama is one challenge and there is already a corps of Greek theatre junkies out there who will travel miles to see a show. But they are tiny in number compared to Shakespeare's supporters, particularly in the US. How can we help to develop a motivated, well informed and challenging audience to preserve and protect the growth of Greek drama on our stages? Developing and educating an audience is essential to the future of this whole area and I would be interested to learn the experiences and opinions of others.

Having said all that, I write this sitting on a plane heading to Burlington, Vermont to catch my company playing BIRDS tonight. Much of the audience will be season ticket holders, the last thing they saw being a chamber orchestra or a string quartet. These often large audiences have been reacting well to quite a spirited and bawdy production but we always get a few '"tip-ups" shocked and outraged at what we have done with Aristophanes. Sometimes I want to stop them and show them pictures of Aristophanic characters complete with phallus and ask them what they think Aristophanes' audiences were watching. To many, Greek drama has become a safe and conservative haven and must not challenge them any more than a night at the symphony. Revealing the spiritual and emotional depth of one of these plays is like convincing visitors to the Duveen Gallery at the British Museum that the Parthenon frieze was painted in gaudy, vivacious colours. Often this audience may never have actually seen a Greek play, their perceptions are that it will be something like the chorus of "Mighty Aphrodite" a Greek drama cliche if ever there was one. I believe they come to theatre more misinformed about Greek drama than any other performance form. I hope our productions prove a positive experience but I do feel that scholars working in this field should be striving to help educate and build the audience that exists and attempting to work hand in hand with theatre practitioners.

To sum up I am interested in ways we can further develop performance studies in Greek drama to a practical end, not a self serving one that aims to keep the base of knowledge circulating among a select group of specialized scholars but seeks to disseminate the often exciting research and reach firstly, directors, designers and actors and then in turn audiences.

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