Ancient Greek and Roman Theatre

Although the ancient Macedonians had no independent dramatic tradition of their own, from the late fifth century onwards successive Macedonian kings began to sponsor Greek theater productions and professionals with real enthusiasm. Indeed, their patronage was crucial to the post-classical development of the ancient theater into a more international performance.

En lisant pour la première fois Civilisation de Dimitris Dimitriadis à l'époque où la pièce a été écrite, à un moment de prospérité et de progrès apparent (2003), j'avoue que je n'ai vu dans sa composition qu'un jeu dramatique, produit d'un mécanisme de renversement des mythes, qui a été mobilisé une fois de plus comme prétexte de la démarche poétique. L'usage de ce mécanisme semblait particulièrement paradoxal ici: Une des oeuvres les plus subversives de l'Antiquité, Médée d'Euripide, quelle marge laisse-t-elle pour un nouveau renversement ? Constituant l'exemple parfait de la thèse aristotélicienne, selon laquelle les conflits les plus tragiques s'expriment au sein d'une même famille et que ce sont ceux-là que le poète doit rechercher, l'héroïne offre réellement un matériau dramatique rare tant pour le dramaturge de l'Antiquité que pour celui de l'époque contemporaine, d'où la surabondance de transcriptions de ce mythe tout au long des siècles. Naturellement, nous n'incluons pas dans celles-ci les traductions de l'oeuvre antique constituant une sorte de transcription elles aussi. A ce propos signalons à titre indicatif l'excellente traduction de Médée de Yorgos Himonas (en grec moderne), sans doute le seul frère-poète grec de Dimitriadis. Sous l'emprise de son amour pour Jason, qu'elle aide à voler la Toison d'Or, la Médée du mythe, fille de roi de Colchide, non seulement trahit son père et assassine son frère, le démembrant et répandant ses membres dans la mer, mais trahie à son tour par son compagnon qui tombe amoureux de la fille du seigneur de Corinthe dans sa nouvelle patrie, elle a recours au crime suprême pour se venger de lui: elle projette et commet le meurtre de leurs enfants. Un tel effet domino de vengeance irréversible devrait entraîner, conformément à la gestion traditionnelle de la tragédie, la punition de l'héroïne. Sans punition, il n'y a pas de catharsis, ne serait-ce qu'au sens de la symétrie comme l'écrit Himonas : « la catharsis dans la tragédie n'est qu'une question d'analogie en rapport avec la forme complexe du déséquilibre extrême qui a précédé ». Et pourtant, comme nous le savons tous, Euripide pardonne Médée en lui offrant une sortie brillante sur le char du Père....

DIMITRA KONDYLAKI est docteur en littérature comparée (Paris-IV-Sorbonne). Sa thèse de doctorat, sous la dir. de Denis Guénoun, a été consacrée à l'édition du théâtre contemporain en France et en Grèce durant les années 1980-2000. Metteur en scène, essayiste et universitaire, elle anime également l'Atelier de traduction théâtrale de l'Institut français (Grèce) voué au répertoire contemporain. Elle est l'auteur de la première monographie sur le théâtre de Dimitris Dimitriadis (Explorant la possibilité de l'imprévu, Editions Nefeli, 2015).

This article presents some results achieved by the IBAM CNR for the reconstructive study of the Greco-Roman theater of Taormina, aimed at the realization of a CG film presented at the G7 summit (26-27 May 2017). The reconstruction is currently presented to visitors on display inside one of the two basilicas at the entrance to the theater. The work was commissioned by the archaeological park of Naxos-Taormina and proposes the ancient monument in its original appearance in two distinct phases. The first phase, dating back to the first quarter of the 2nd century AD, involves an impressive renovation, with the expansion of  the seating capacity and the construction of an external ambulatory, in addition to the reconstruction of the whole frons scaenae. The second phase is ascribable to the 3rd century, and changes the theater building and the orchestra, with the transformation of the orchestra area into an arena, a testimony to the tendency to replace theatrical performances with gladiatorial games and venationes. Our reconstruction uses rapid 3D relief methodologies based on drone and ground photogrammetry, together with the interpretative potential offered by the 3D modeling environment. This approach has led to some unpublished solutions, such as the solution of the connection of the velarium with the hill supported only by ropes. However, the main objective of this work is linked to understand the architectural of the monument in an overview that places it in its original context and that allows visitors to appreciate the various elements of its originality.

Dentre os estudos acerca da tragédia grega, há o debate acerca da função social da tragédia grega, que veio à luz principalmente a partir de 1990, consistindo basicamente em duas questões que dividem os especialistas: 1) o drama ateniense configurava-se como uma instituição ideológica da polis, nomeadamente da democracia ateniense do século V a.C  ? 2) A tragédia ateniense tinha como função afirmar os valores cívicos da democracia ateniense, ou questioná-los?  Ou ambos? Ou tinha uma relação insignificante com esta ideologia cívica e democrática?

The theme that unites the first four papers in this collection (counting the two elements of the second paper as two separate papers for the purposes of this summary only) is the view of Geta as very much the nexus-figure for three different aspects of the play: he is by turns the willing and unwilling trickster of Demipho (with Phormio as his principal ally); he is also a devotee of the goddess Fortuna (his piety sits comfortably alongside that of Demipho: they may profitably be viewed as a composite character) to whom good luck deservedly accrues (in contrast to Phormio and Chremes, who personify those who either enjoy unmerited success – Phormio – or like Chremes get found out); and, finally, Geta is co-principal architect of the resolution of the two cousins' love entanglements (although he once more needs the assistance – this time unsought - of another character: Nausistrata). All four papers, looking at the play from the varied perspectives of plot, structure and linguistic choices, present mutually-supportive evidence for this interpretation.
The fifth (summarising) paper gathers together the specific evidence to substantiate the claim that the intention of Terence was to create a play to showcase the comedic potential of a parasite let loose in a plot dominated by chance and where all intrigues are ultimately confounded. It further develops the idea that the prologue and last scene of the play were tailored to one another so as to draw direct parallels between the alleged behaviour of Luscius Lanuvinus and Phormio. The sixth paper speculatively explores an obscure element of Terence's attack upon Luscius that continues to puzzle modern commentators. The seventh paper expands the examination of pietas beyond the religious aspect analysed in the third paper (the second part to the second paper listed above) to encompass familial and wider social pietas. It seeks to demonstrate that Terence handled this theme in a wholly consistent manner, with the parasite unequivocally depicted as a vir impius - rendering it implausible that Terence, apparently so dependent himself upon patronage, should have cast Phormio as anything other than a comic rogue who got lucky.
The principal conclusions from my analysis of Phormio can be summarised thus:
1. Terence employs ring-composition as a fundamental organising technique, founded upon the stage entrances at regular intervals of four of the characters: Demipho, Phormio, Chremes and Sophrona (see the summarising table at the end of the collection).
2. Terence uses word-tags to link connected themes/ideas. These include: postilla, ire pergam, ipse (with the specific meaning of dominus), heia, eu, attat & (when used by a male) pol. Also (integrating the prologue with the remainder of the play-text): lacesso and aequo animo.
3. The theme of pietas (or its lack) leading to both deserved and undeserved felicitas is another organising principle of the play: references to the gods and to religious observance are most certainly not just incidental add-ons.
4. There are several plausible explanations for the parasite Phormio getting star-billing in the prologue. He need not be - and in this play is not - the master of intrigue portrayed by some (most?) other commentators.
5. This play provides an excellent example of how the translation choices for just a few lines can transform the overall interpretation. And why translators need to situate their decisions within the wider academic debate, failing which they run the risk of misleading their audience.
6. It is a valid approach to interpret each of Terence's plays on an individual basis, given the small number he wrote and the insistence in the prologues upon originality. To focus on elements common to his corpus - or common to the even wider concept of a comoedia palliata - can lead to unwarranted (or at least unduly restrictive) conclusions.
7. In this specific play the prologue does form an integral part of the overall play-text (both in terms of the fundamental architecture of the play and as regards important thematic elements).
8. The structuring of this play raises fundamental questions as to the basis upon which Terence selected, and the degree to which he subsequently modified, his Greek original in this specific instance and, more generally, as regards his wider approach to his Greek source material. Terence did more than merely translate: he seems actively to have sought out plays, and (where appropriate) specific scenes from other Greek works where he deemed it appropriate, so as to develop various stock-characters from play to play and thereby to put his own stamp on a particular comedy. Modern scholarship generally supports the idea that Shakespeare adopted a somewhat similar approach to his source material in a number of plays.

The on-going popularity of the Vitruvian layout for the Latin theatre is largely due to its capacity to bridge across several disciplines, which seems to appeal to a certain conception of material culture that assumes the existence of a plurality of formally similar structures of culture beyond surface phenomena. These tend to be not merely potent in their explanatory force but also gratifying aesthetically and ethically. Modern scholarship has forcefully promoted such a conjunction of truth, beauty, and goodness in the link between the Theatre in the Asklepieion at Epidauros and Pythagorean speculation. However, similar cognitively-significant structural or formal bridges would seem difficult to establish in all examples. In their absence, the search for a perfect geometry of perfect shapes beyond the extant remains may turn into a purely formalist exercise made possible by the capability of geometry to serve as an analytical tool through a reduction of the architectural code to a geometric code. This is a dilemma intrinsic in the difficult relation between architecture and geometry. In fact, Vitruvius seems to have noticed the problem long ago and tried to build a material bridge between his geometric assembly and the architectural project by recognizing the necessity to give up symmetry in the latter, wherever required by the nature of the site or the size of the project. This paper, thus, attempts to explain the on-going popularity of the Vitruvian layout by its capacity to bridge across several disciplines.

The Greek Trilogy of Luis Alfaro gathers together for the first time the three 'Greek' plays of the MacArthur Genius Award-winning Chicanx playwright and performance artist.

Based respectively on Sophocles' Electra and Oedipus, and Euripides' Medea, Alfaro's Electricidad, Oedipus El Rey, and Mojada transplant ancient themes and problems into the 21st century streets of Los Angeles and New York, in order to give voice to the concerns of the Chicanx and wider Latinx communities.

From performances around the world including sold-out runs at New York's Public Theater, these texts are extremely important to those studying classical reception, Greek theatre and Chicanx writers. This unique anthology features definitive editions of all three plays alongside a comprehensive introduction which provides a critical overview of Luis Alfaro's work, accentuating not only the unique nature of these three 'urban' adaptations of ancient Greek tragedy but also the manner in which they address present-day Chicanx and Latinx socio-political realities across the United States.

A brief introduction to each play and its overall themes precedes the text of the drama. The anthology concludes with exclusive supplementary material aimed at enhancing understanding of Alfaro's plays: a 'Performance History' timeline outlining the performance history of the plays; an alphabetical 'Glossary' explaining the most common terms in Spanish and Spanglish appearing in each play; and a 'Further Reading' list providing primary and secondary bibliography for each play.

The anthology is completed by a new interview with Alfaro which addresses key topics such as Alfaro's engagement with ancient Greek drama and his work with Chicanx communities across the United States, thus providing a critical contextualisation of these critically-acclaimed plays.

En Antígona podemos ver como el papel de la mujer a través de confrontarse ante la decisión de respetar las leyes divinas o seguir las leyes humanas toma gran fuerza, puesto que la mujer en el siglo V a. C. no tenía gran importancia como integrante de la sociedad, dado que no participaba en la toma de decisiones, ni tenía un lugar destacado jerárquicamente, como el hecho de no pertenecer a la ciudadanía. Es por ello que la decisión de Antígona de respetar la ley divina ante la de los hombres sin importar las consecuencias que este hecho le acarreara toma gran importancia al ser un contraste destacado en cuanto a la sociedad en la que se desarrolla la historia.

Аннотация: Отождествление агона и конфликта в комедиях Аристофана затрудняет интерпретацию аристофановских пьес в плане содержания и композиции. Комедии без агона и комедии с двумя агонами свидетельствуют о факультативности данного структурного элемента. В работе проводится анализ места агона в структуре комедий Аристофана и его соотношения с конфликтом аристофановских произведений.
Ключевые слова: агон, Аристофан, комедия, конфликт, хронотоп.
Resume: Identification of the agon with the conflict in Aristophanes’ comedies complicates interpretation of substance and composition of his plays. Comedies without the agon and comedies with two agons prove optionality of this structural element. The article analyses role of the agon in the structure of Aristophanes’ plays and their correlation with the conflict of his comedies.
Key words: agon, Aristophanes, comedy, conflict, chronotop.

Il faut sauver la tragédie grecque de toute la gnose philosophique et tragique qui l'accable depuis près de trois siècles. Il faut la sauver de notre conception moderne de la littérature et du théâtre. Il faut la sauver de nous-mêmes pour la retrouver ailleurs, très loin, dans les lieux les plus improbables : le nô japonais, la messe catholique, la psychanalyse freudienne… À moins qu'elle ne soit déjà plus nulle part.
Car la tragédie est aussi introuvable que le tombeau d’Œdipe, ce tombeau que Sophocle prit pour thème de sa pièce ultime, laquelle est également la dernière tragédie grecque connue.
Avec Œdipe à Colone pour fil conducteur, ce livre raconte l’histoire édifiante d’une incompréhension à laquelle nous sommes voués. Il révèle les incroyables trahisons et mutilations dont ces chefs-d’oeuvre furent les victimes et propose en retour quelques thèses - ou hérésies – susceptibles de bouleverser non seulement notre vision de la tragédie, mais notre conception même de la littérature et de ses pouvoirs – sur les lieux, les corps et les dieux.
Nul détour n’est aujourd’hui si troublant ni si salutaire.

Sous le règne de l'empereur Auguste, vers 22 av. J.-C., apparut à Rome un genre dramatique nouveau dont le succès, fulgurant et durable, résiste aujourd'hui encore à l'analyse historique. Ses acteurs, des danseurs solistes accompagnés d'un choeur et d'un orchestre qui mimaient les grandes 'scènes' de la mythologie, fascinèrent, six siècles durant, le public de tout l'Empire romain. Pantomimi à Rome, orchestai en Grèce, ces acteurs d'un nouveau genre furent récompensés, adulés, détestés, condamnés, bannis. La pantomime antique, genre dramatique à la fois raffiné et populaire, concurrent de la tragédie qu'il supplanta, méritait une synthèse qui lui rendît sa vraie place dans l'histoire du théâtre antique. Comprendre un phénomène aussi surprenant que l'engouement de tout un Empire, de Syrie jusqu'en Gaule et de Germanie jusqu'en Afrique, pour des spectacles sans texte véritable, qui faisaient appel à l'image et au son, supposait un dépassement des problématiques habituelles. Abandonnant tous les a priori et jugements de valeur, le présent ouvrage ne souhaitait pas évaluer le genre mais l'analyser comme un fait de civilisation unique dans notre culture occidentale. Notre documentation est pauvre (nous n'avons aucun texte, aucune partition), parfois anachronique, presque toujours marquée par des parti pris sociaux ou politiques. L'iconographie est rare. Elle permet difficilement d'imaginer l'apparence du danseur. Aucune image ne permet de reconstituer le spectacle. L'étude des inscriptions permet de construire quelques parcours artistiques, mais avec tant d'incertitudes qu'il eût été impossible de prétendre proposer au lecteur une Vie quotidienne des danseurs à Rome. Il était passionnant en revanche de parcourir des textes souvent contradictoires, ceux des historiens latins et grecs, ceux des poètes, des auteurs d'épigrammes de l'Anthologie Grecque, ceux des auteurs chrétiens aussi, et de se pencher sur les textes émouvants d'épitaphes en vers. Cette synthèse a d'abord pour objet la mise en lumière de la mutation culturelle importante dont témoigne la naissance de ce 'drame moderne', la pantomime. Tragédie, poésie lyrique, épopée, mythologie en général se trouvaient convoqués par une langue gestuelle compréhensible par tous, qui rappelait aux Grecs et aux Latins leur patrimoine commun. L'ouvrage s'addresse à un public averti, qu'il soit spécialiste des textes antiques ou de l'histoire du théâtre occidental.

Nella storia degli studi sul teatro romano poca attenzione è stata riservata finora all’analisi del monologo nelle commedie terenziane e il debole interesse della critica è stato motivato attraverso la presunta “avversione” del poeta verso questo espediente drammaturgico. Un’attenta lettura delle Commedie rivela, invece, il ricorso costante di Terenzio al monologo e perfino l’uso di una tecnica raffinata. Il poeta sfrutta, infatti, a pieno le possibilità drammaturgiche che il monologo gli offre, se ne serve con accortezza stilistica e consapevolezza, e impiega questo strumento con diverse funzioni sceniche. Negli spettacoli terenziani il monologo arriva ad acquisire caratteristiche innovative, specchio di una nuova idea di teatro e segno ulteriore dell’originalità di Terenzio rispetto ai suoi modelli.

Peace is one of Aristophanes’ most poetically resonant comedies. This work provides an analysis of a paratragic feature hitherto almost neglected by scholars, the figure of Prometheus, especially as characterised in Aeschylus’ Prometheus Bound. In his poetical and parodistic texture, Aristophanes uses some of Prometheus’ most evident peculiarities to describe Trygeus and Hermes, once he has accepted to join the Greeks in the release of Peace; the observation of the different uses that Aristophanes makes of this paradigm throughout the comedy helps to understand the progression of action and characterization in Peace.