Greek Tragedies as Plays for Performance

Greek Tragedies as Plays for Performance is a unique introduction to the genre that explores these works as dramatic artefacts intended for performance—instead of as ancient literature solely to be read and studied. Written by a scholar who combines his academic understanding of Greek tragedy with his singular theatrical experience of producing these ancient dramas for the modern stage, this text pays special attention to construction, design, staging, and musical composition in terms of the ancient medium and original resources. The author discusses the masters of the genre—Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides—including similarities, differences, their use and development of Greek tragedy’s hybrid form, the significance that each poet attaches to familiar myths and his distinctive approach as a dramatic artist. The text examines 10 plays in detail, from Persae and TheOresteia to Antigone and Oedipus Tyrannus and then Medea and Bacchae, including the 2 Electra plays. It delves into important components of these dramas, including performances by the chorus and the 3 actors, the need to captivate audiences attending a major civic and religious festival, and the importance of the lyric sections for emotional effect. The book also contains a companion website, available upon publication at www.wiley.com/go/raeburn, with 136 audio recordings of Greek tragedy that illustrate the beauty of the Greek language and the powerful rhythms of the songs. With extended dramatic analysis of important Greek tragedies at an appropriate level for readers coming to the topic for the first time, this is a fresh and insightful foray into these ancient works of art. David Raeburn has recently retired from a stipendiary Lectureship in Classical Languages at New College in the University of Oxford,UK, where he previously held the Grocyn Lectureship in the Faculty of Literae Humaniores. Before that, he spent more than 40 years as a Classics teacher and headmaster of two secondary schools. He is the co-author of The Agamemnon of Aeschylus (2010) and translator of the Penguin Classics editions of Sophocles’ Electra and Other Plays (2008) and Ovid’s Metamorphoses (2004). His research interests include Greek tragedy and Augustan poetry in Latin. He has directed over 30 full-scale or workshop productions of 18 of the 33 extant Greek tragedies, performed either in the original language or in translation with school and university students.