Performing Ancient Drama in Mask: the Case of Greek Tragedy

2012 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Vervain
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Greek Drama ◽  
Ancient Drama ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
New Comedy

Chris Vervain is a mask maker who has for a number of years directed masked Greek drama. On the basis of the research she has undertaken using her own masks, in this article she considers some of the practical issues involved in a masked staging of the plays today, drawing specifically on her experience of directing the Bacchae and the Antigone. Here she extends the discussion started previously in ‘Performing Ancient Drama in Mask: the Case of Greek New Comedy’ in NTQ 79 (August 2004). Earlier, with David Wiles, she contributed ‘The Masks of Greek Tragedy as Point of Departure for Modern Performance’ to NTQ 67 (August 2001). In 2008 she completed a doctorate on masks in Greek tragedy at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Performing Ancient Drama in Mask: the Case of Greek New Comedy

2004 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 245-264
Author(s):  
Chris Vervain
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Ancient Greek ◽  
Greek Comedy ◽  
Ancient Drama ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
New Comedy

Chris Vervain is a mask maker who has for a number of years trained and directed in performing masked drama. On the basis of research she has undertaken, using her own masks, on how to perform the ancient Greek plays, in this article she questions some of the modern orthodoxies of masked theatre, drawing specifically on her experience with Menander's New Comedy. With David Wiles, she contributed ‘The Masks of Greek Tragedy as Point of Departure for Modern Performance’ to NTQ 67 (August 2001) and, with Richard Williams, ‘Masks for Menander: Imaging and Imagining Greek Comedy’ to Digital Creativity, X, No. 3 (1999). Some of her masks can be seen at www.chrisvervain.btinternet.com. She is currently working towards a doctorate on masks in Greek tragedy at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Diversifying Greek Tragedy on the Contemporary US Stage

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda Powers
Keyword(s):  
Cross Section ◽  
Performance Studies ◽  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Live Performance ◽  
Greek Drama ◽  
The Us ◽  
Social Concerns ◽  
Performance Context ◽  
Historical Identity ◽  
Ancient Drama

Demonstrating that ancient drama can be a powerful tool in seeking justice, this book investigates a cross section of live theatrical productions on the US stage that have reimagined Greek tragedy to address political and social concerns. To address this subject, it engages with some of the latest research in the field of performance studies to interpret not dramatic texts in isolation from their performance context, but instead the dynamic experience of live theatre. The book’s focus is on the ability of engaged performances to pose critical challenges to long-standing stereotypes that have contributed to the misrepresentation and marginalization of under-represented communities. Yet, in the process, it also uncovers the ways in which performances can inadvertently reinforce the very stereotypes they aim to challenge. This book thus offers a study of the live performance of Greek drama and its role in creating and reflecting social, cultural, and historical identity in contemporary America.

The Masks of Greek Tragedy as Point of Departure for Modern Performance

2001 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 254-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris Vervain ◽  
David Wiles
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Research Programme ◽  
Cambridge University ◽  
Performance Space ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The University ◽  
Near Future ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
Valuable Point ◽  
New Comedy

In this article, David Wiles and Chris Vervain stake out the ground for a substantial programme of continuing research. Chris Vervain, coming from a background in visual and performance art, is in the first instance a maker of masks. She is also now writing a thesis on the masks of classical tragedy and their possibilities in modern performance, and, in association with the University of Glasgow, working on an AHRB research programme that involves testing the effect of Greek New Comedy masks in performance. David Wiles, Professor of Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London, has published books on the masks of Greek New Comedy and on Greek performance space, and lectured on Greek masks. Most recently, his Greek Theatre Performance: an Introduction (Cambridge University Press, 2000) included an investigation of the classical mask and insights provided by the work of Lecoq. He is now planning a book on the classical Greek mask. Wiles and Vervain are both committed to the idea that the mask was the determining convention which gave Greek tragedy its identity in the ancient world, and is a valuable point of departure for modern practitioners engaging with the form. They anticipate that their research will in the near future incorporate a symposium and a further report on work-in-progress.

Greek Tragedy on the American Stage: Ancient Drama in the Commercial Theater, 1882-1994

1997 ◽  
Vol 90 (6) ◽  
pp. 445
Author(s):  
Matthew Benjamin ◽  
Karelisa V. Hartigan
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Commercial Theater ◽  
Ancient Drama

The Role of Jesus' Opponents in the Markan Drama

1989 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-182
Author(s):  
Stephen H. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Greek Drama ◽  
The Bible ◽  
Literary Device ◽  
The Cross ◽  
Dream Narratives ◽  
Tragic Drama ◽  
Effective Use ◽  
Arbitrary Fashion

Discussions on the possibility that Mark's Gospel may have been modelled, either consciously or subconsciously, on Greek tragic drama have gathered momentum in recent years. It has also been shown that a most important feature of Greek tragedy is the repetitive device of ‘foreshadowing’, a technique which has rightly been seen as essential to the development of mnemonic structures in oral epic. The use of this device in the Bible, it may be argued, is no less pronounced than in Greek drama. C. H. Lohr, in particular, has argued strongly for the presence of foreshadowing in Matthew's Gospel, and it is our purpose here to enquire whether the writer of the Second Gospel, too, was aware of this dramatic device. Matthew achieved the desired effect by means of dream episodes (Matt 1. 20; 2. 12, 13, 19, 22; 27. 19) and the repetition of divine names, especially ‘Son of David’, at strategic points (Matt 9. 27; 12. 23; 15. 22; 20. 30, 31; 22. 43). There are certainly no dream narratives in Mark's Gospel, and even the references to divine titles may seem to have been arranged in a somewhat arbitrary fashion at first glance. On the other hand, it can hardly be denied that we find in Mark's vivid account an inexorable drift towards death: the inevitable shadow of the cross falls across the text even as early as Mark 2. 20 – the disciples may not fast until ‘that day’ when the bridegroom is taken from them. And there is the hint of opposition to Jesus even prior to that! There is little doubt in my mind that Mark was keenly aware of the effective use to which the device of foreshadowing could be put, but his technique differs from that which Lohr has ascribed to Matthew. In true tragic style he wants to emphasise the inevitability of the cross as the omega point of Jesus' destiny, and to do that he uses not dreams or prophecies, but actors who engage Jesus in controversy or conflict at strategic points within the gospel story. It matters to Mark who these actors are, what role they play, and precisely when and where they make their entrances on stage. We shall thus be concerned to show, in the remainder of this paper, how the Evangelist treats the various groups of Jewish opponents as a literary device for foreshadowing Jesus' crucifixion.

Israeli Theatre

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nurit Yaari
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
The State ◽  
Study Research ◽  
Greek Drama ◽  
Classical Drama ◽  
Important Development ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Reading Study

This chapter reviews the state of Israeli theatre today, seventy-two years since the production of Racine’s Phaedra at Habima Theatre, and sums up its notable achievements, and the myriad forms, styles, artists, and institutions that together provide fertile ground for Israeli theatre’s encounters with classical drama. An overview of the seventy-two years of reception of Greek tragedy in Israeli theatre (1945–2017) demonstrates clearly that the most important development appears to be that local theatre makers have relinquished previous preconceived ideas about classical Greek drama and performance and of Aristotle’s theatrical doctrine, in favour of personal reading, study, research, and decoding of the classical works. It also presents the young and talented artists that are bringing the results of their studies and experimentations to the translation, writing, directing, and acting of classical drama to the Israeli stage, and using that drama to deliver innovative and challenging productions for today’s audiences.

Unanswered prayers in Greek Tragedy

1989 ◽  
Vol 109 ◽  
pp. 81-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jon D. Mikalson
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Greek Life ◽  
Greek Drama ◽  
General Terms ◽  
And Function ◽  
The City

Moments before Euripides' Polyneices and Eteocles square off for their final, fatal battle in the Phoenissae, each prays for divine assistance (1359–76). Their prayers, though very brief, are by the standards of Greek drama rather formal. Polyneices, as Theban as his brother Eteocles, is leading a force of Argives against Thebes to recover the kingship he claims is rightfully his. As he prays he looks toward distant Argos and invokes ‘Lady Hera’, for, he says, ‘I am now yours, because I married Adrastus’ daughter and dwell in his land' (1364–6). He has left his homeland, married into an Argive family, and now lives in Argos, and he must therefore appeal to an Argive deity. Hera is here made a doubly appropriate recipient of his prayer—by locality as patroness of the Argolid and by function as protectress of marriage, her two major roles in the religion of Greek life and tragedy. Eteocles, commanding the home forces against invaders, looks to the nearby temple of ‘Pallas of the golden shield’. He invokes her as the ‘daughter of Zeus’ and, like Polyneices but less explicitly, explains why he appeals specifically to her. He wishes to kill ‘the man who has come to sack my fatherland’ (1372–6). This Athena ‘of the golden shield’ is patroness of Thebes and, in more general terms, a goddess who aids the city in defence against foreign invaders. Like Hera she is doubly appropriate, in terms of locale and function, to her worshipper's needs.

Seamus Heaney

2019 ◽  
pp. 121-146
Author(s):  
Marianne McDonald
Keyword(s):  
Greek Tragedy ◽  
Seamus Heaney ◽  
Greek Drama ◽  
Miraculous Healing

This chapter considers Heaney’s work linked with Greek tragedy, the Sophoclean versions The Cure At Troy and The Burial At Thebes and the sequence ‘Mycenae Lookout’ in the collection The Spirit Level (1996). It argues that Heaney used classical Greek drama not only to touch on the Irish troubles but also to present his personal views and values, sometimes employing images from his background as the son of a Catholic father, and often influenced by his upbringing as an Irish Catholic. He depicted war and the lust for violence, but always expressed hope, and a desire for the fires of war to be cleansed by the waters of a miraculous healing well.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document