“Vice” and “Parasite.” A Note on the Evolution of the Elizabethan Villain

Buffoonery and rascality—the two outstanding qualities of the morality play “Vice”—led, under differing influences, to the Elizabethan clown and villain. In early Tudor times, “witty slave” and “parasite” came from the classical drama to an English stage which already knew a figure combining certain of their characteristics, and to an audience who recognized in them certain familiar features. The “Vice” was originally the agent or servant of the Seven Deadly Sins, and sought to entrap “Mankind”—by whatever name he was known—into the power of evil. In a sense, he was a kind of “parasite,” too, his reward depending on the success of his service, and he was the dynamic character in the old plays. Incidentally, he was also the source of much (if not all) the humor in the moralities, and was one of the first figures to reflect the life of the times in a drama which dealt chiefly with personified virtues and vices. He had, for obvious reasons, no virtue in his composition; but he was human, and his vitality gave him an attraction which has descended to some of the later representatives of this type.

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The First Greek Drama on the Hebrew Stage: Tyrone Guthrie's Oedipus Rex at the Habima

Theatre Research International ◽

10.1017/s0307883300014437 ◽

1988 ◽

Vol 13 (2) ◽

pp. 131-146

Author(s):

Dwora Gilula

Keyword(s):

Jewish Studies ◽

Higher Learning ◽

Religious Institutions ◽

Classical Literature ◽

Greek Drama ◽

Classical Drama ◽

Classical World ◽

Institutions Of Higher Learning ◽

The Times ◽

Classical Culture

On the Hebrew Stage, Greek and Roman drama was never a first priority, The Habima Theatre, from its inception in 1917 to the present day, staged only six classical productions (out of more than four hundred), the Cameri Theatre – four, the Haifa Municipal Theatre – five, the Ohel theatre, in all of its forty-four years of activity (1925–69), although it staged 163 plays, never found the need or drive to produce a Greek or a Roman drama, and the young Beer-Sheba Theatre, the last addition to Israel's theatrical establishment, although daring and innovative, has yet to venture into the classical world. The reasons are not far to seek, and there are weighty local reasons in addition to the general cultural factors, which have contributed to the scarcity of classical drama productions. Hellenism and Hellenization, according to the view held even today by some educated and secular Israelis, are not neutral entities. The terms themselves are polemic, connote cultural assimilation, and stand for departure from national Jewish values and the forfeit of cultural originality and independence. From the times of the Hebrew Enlightenment movement, however, classical languages and culture became an integral part of the curriculum of Jewish studies even in religious institutions of higher learning, such as the Bar-Ilan University. On the other hand, as a reaction to the classical culture becoming an embodiment of secular, anti-clerical Zionist renaissance, the extreme Orthodox establishment in contemporary Israel has continued to treat it as a dangerous desecration and even extended the derogatory use of the term ‘Hellenization’ to cover the entire Western cultural influence. As a result until today classical literature has only a marginal place in the high-schools' curriculum, it is not an immediate, and certainly not the most important source from which Hebrew writers and playwrights draw their inspiration, and even well educated spectators have at best only a very superficial knowledge of the classical heritage. The few classical plays produced on the Hebrew stage were chosen at random, chiefly because leading or popular directors insisted on directing a certain play, or because a play, which achieved success in Europe, was transplanted lock, stock and barrel to Israel, sometimes together with its director.

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On Fostering Ecclesial Dialogue: Engaging Contrasting Ecclesiologies

Ecclesiology ◽

10.1163/174413608x308609 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

pp. 166-182

Author(s):

Bradford Hinze

Keyword(s):

Roman Catholic ◽

Final Part ◽

Dynamic Character ◽

The Times ◽

The Church

AbstractDialogue is widely acknowledged as a basic practice constitutive of the church's internal and external identity and mission. Advancing ecclesial dialogue by learning from a phenomenology of its practices and cultivating apt virtues is necessary but insufficient. These efforts are often thwarted because divergent ecclesiological approaches to dialogue stand in tension with one another. This paper explores how three trajectories in Roman Catholic ecclesiology develop contrasting approaches to the role of dialogue in the church: personalist, correlationist, and contextual. The final part of the paper proposes three topics where there are convergences about the dialogical mandate amidst these contrasting orientations: the dynamic character of faith and tradition, the synodal imperative, and the need to debate the synodal agenda for the church in response to the global signs of the times.

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The First Undoubted ‘Magic Flute’?

R.M.A Research Chronicle ◽

10.1080/14723808.1974.10540867 ◽

1974 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

pp. 106-114

Author(s):

Trevor Fawcett

Keyword(s):

Musical Piece ◽

Comic Opera ◽

Best Estimate ◽

English Stage ◽

The Times ◽

First Time ◽

Magic Flute ◽

Die Zauberflote

Which was the first reasonably complete and faithful performance of Die Zauberflöte in English?In common with other Mozart operas, and despite its unabated popularity on the Continent, Die Zauberflöte came late and haltingly to the English stage. The date of its introduction is somewhat problematic. Dennis Arundell has drawn attention to an advertisement in The Times of 29 March 1806. A comic opera, Adolf and Clara, was to be performed that evening at the German Theatre (or Sans Souci), Leicester Square: ‘After which, a Pantomime Dance: and, for the 1st time, a new Musical Piece, by Mozart, called The ENCHANTED FLUTE; and to conclude with the Optical Ballet.’ No more is known beyond the bald statement. The production was apparently in English, and admittedly there was music, but does it appear likely that this was a serious attempt at the whole work? Introduced into the programme as a mere afterpiece, sandwiched between other diversions, and so very modestly announced, it sounds at the best estimate a heavily truncated version. Indeed the probability is that the piece was got up hastily in order to capitalize on the interest aroused by the Haymarket's production of La clemenza di Tito two days earlier, that being the first time a Mozart opera had been performed in England.

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The Orchestra as Acting Area in Greek Tragedy

Ramus ◽

10.1017/s0048671x00003489 ◽

1985 ◽

Vol 14 (2) ◽

pp. 75-84 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Graham Ley ◽

Michael Ewans

Keyword(s):

Greek Tragedy ◽

Close Relation ◽

Central Problem ◽

Classical Drama ◽

Considerable Experience

For some years past there has been a welcome change of emphasis towards the consideration of staging in books published on Greek tragedy; and yet with that change also a curious failure to be explicit about the central problem connected with all stagecraft, namely that of the acting-area. In this study two scholars with considerable experience of teaching classical drama in performance consider this problem of the acting-area in close relation to major scenes from two Greek tragedies, and suggest some general conclusions. The article must stand to some extent as a critique of the succession of books that has followed the apparently pioneering study of Oliver Taplin, none of which has made any substantial or sustained attempt to indicate where actors might have acted in the performance of Greek tragedy, though most, if not all, have been prepared to discard the concept of a raised ‘stage’ behind the orchestra. Hippolytus (428 BC) is the earliest of the surviving plays of Euripides to involve three speaking actors in one scene. Both Alcestis (438 BC and Medea (431 BC almost certainly require three actors to be performed with any fluency, but surprisingly present their action largely through dialogue and confrontation — surprisingly, perhaps, because at least since 458 BC and the performance of the Oresteia it is clear that three actors were available to any playwright.

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The Eclipsing Binary WX Eridani

International Astronomical Union Colloquium ◽

10.1017/s0252921100073656 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 46 ◽

pp. 385

Author(s):

M.B.K. Sarma ◽

K.D. Abhankar

Keyword(s):

Light Curve ◽

Spectral Type ◽

Orbital Period ◽

Primary Component ◽

Light Curves ◽

Absorption Feature ◽

Primary Star ◽

Eclipsing Binary ◽

The Times ◽

Phase Angles

AbstractThe Algol-type eclipsing binary WX Eridani was observed on 21 nights on the 48-inch telescope of the Japal-Rangapur Observatory during 1973-75 in B and V colours. An improved period of P = 0.82327038 days was obtained from the analysis of the times of five primary minima. An absorption feature between phase angles 50-80, 100-130, 230-260 and 280-310 was present in the light curves. The analysis of the light curves indicated the eclipses to be grazing with primary to be transit and secondary, an occultation. Elements derived from the solution of the light curve using Russel-Merrill method are given. From comparison of the fractional radii with Roche lobes, it is concluded that none of the components have filled their respective lobes but the primary star seems to be evolving. The spectral type of the primary component was estimated to be F3 and is found to be pulsating with two periods equal to one-fifth and one-sixth of the orbital period.

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