...Modern Performance and Adaptation of Greek Tragedy Helene P. Foley Barnard College, Columbia University “Leave it to a playwright who has been dead for 2,400 years to jolt Broadway out of its dramatic doldrums” begins a recent New York Times review (December 4, 1998) of a British Electra by Sophocles starring Zoe Wanamaker and Claire Bloom. This fall the Times has repeatedly remarked on the “deluge” of Greek tragedy in the 1998-99 theater season: the National Theater of Greece’s Medea, Joanne Akalaitis’ The Iphigeneia Cycle (a double bill that combines Euripides’ two Iphigeneia plays), a revival of Andrei Serban’s famous Fragments of a Greek Trilogy, and a four-and-a-half-hour adaptation of the Oedipus Rex were announced at the start of the season. Off-off Broadway versions will inevitably follow. The Brooklyn Academy of Music even hosted a dance/theatre piece based on the Eleusinian Mysteries. 1 The Classic Stage Company, an off-Broadway theater group devoted to performance and adaptation of Western classics, currently receives more scripts that re-work Greek tragedy than any other category of drama. 2 From a global perspective, New York is simply reflecting a trend set by important modern playwrights and directors worldwide. Greek drama now occupies a regular place in the London theater season. In the past twenty years, acclaimed productions have been mounted not only in Europe but also in Japan, India, and Africa. Translations are even beginning to proliferate in China, occasionally...
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...Meredith Masters 3/10/16 Block 7, LA4 Research Paper Word Count: 565 What is drama? Medieval drama was theater. Drama did not come about until the later part of the medieval time. It took the stage as one of the main forms of entertainment around 900 and fell through after the decline in the 1500’s. Plays did make a comeback, and are still popular to this day. There are no performances today that are associated with the plays from back then. After the fall of the Roman Empire, nomadic bands traveled whether or not there was an audience. They were a combination of jesters, jugglers, storytellers and other performers. Later, when festivals came about, other entertainers were given the chance to showcase their talents. Since the Catholic Church was so powerful, it overpowered such performances and the entertainers were then converted. Actors was their new title. Plays were performed in churches until around 1200, when they were also performed outside on occasion. At the end of the 14th century, churches had less and less control over plays. Towns took over and put on shows that the churches did not. Medieval Drama was very popular during this time, as it was, for a lack of better words, their form of entertainment. The types of plays that were performed during this time were morality, miracle, and mystery plays. Morality plays are didactic allegories often of a common man’s struggle for salvation. Miracle plays are about the lives of saints. They are also historical...
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...History of Early Greek Drama Typically all humans enjoy a good laugh. After all, “Laughter improves the function of blood vessels and increases blood flow, which can help protect you against a heart attack and other cardiovascular problems” (Smith). The attention of a human being is automatically grasped when it comes to dramatic and comedic situations. It is almost like the human brain has an on and off switched that is flipped on when drama is involved; or when something is funny. “Ancient greeks from the 5th century BC onwards were fascinated by the wuestion of the origins of tragedy and comedy” (Saskia). During the time origin of Athens greek theatre was still on the rise. Greek theater was in a way a celebration to honor the Greek Gods. “A Greek God, Dionysus, was honored with a festival called [by] ‘City Dionysia’” (Greece). At the Dionysus festival in athens there were three main people todirect and perform ech play. Usually the author of a play would be one of the cast members. There were three well known Greek tragedy play writers in the 5th century. A man by the name of Aeschylus was one of the manificent writers. “Aeschylus was the first of the 3 renowned prize-winning Greek writers of tragedy” (Gill). Because only three people were allowed to participate in a single play, Aeschylus acted in most of the plays he wrote. When Aeschylus died, it was allowed to replay his plays. The reason replying Aeshylus’s plays was because “…during the Classical perios, each tetralogy...
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...PHILIPPINE THEATER Theater in the Philippines is as varied as the cultural traditions and the historical influences that shaped it through the centuries. The dramatic forms that flourished and continue to flourish among the different peoples of the archipelago include: the indigenous theater, mainly Malay in character, which is seen in rituals, mimetic dances, and mimetic customs; the plays with Spanish influence, among which are the komedya, the sinakulo, the playlets, the sarswela, and the drama; and the theater with Anglo-American influence, which encompasses bodabil and the plays in English, and the modern or original plays by Fihpinos, which employ representational and presentational styles drawn from contemporary modern theater, or revitalize traditional forms from within or outside the country. The Indigenous Theater The rituals, dances, and customs which are still performed with urgency and vitality by the different cultural communities that comprise about five percent of the country’s population are held or performed, together or separately, on the occasions of a person’s birth, baptism, circumcision, initial menstruation, courtship, wedding, sickness, and death; or for the celebration of tribal activities, like hunting, fishing, rice planting and harvesting, and going to war. In most rituals, a native priest/priestess, variously called mandadawak, catalonan, bayok, or babalyan, goes into a trance as the spirit he/she is calling upon possesses him/her. While entranced...
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...see in a performance today. Many things in theatre have changed, from the dialogue and costumes, to the sets, themes, and the playwrights themselves. Just as the human race has had to adapt to changes in order to survive over the years, theatre has done the same. There is one thing that has not changed all that much and that is that people still use theatre as an escape. While theatre was originally used as a form of worship to the Greek god Dionysus, the art of theatre has greatly evolved over the years and is now mainly used as a source of entertainment. There is not much history pertaining to the origin of theatre. Most research comes from wall paintings and hieroglyphics. One of the first dramas was performed in Egypt and is said to be the beginning of theatre. This drama was the Abydos passion play, involving the story of Osiris (Robinson, 2002). Most of the first recorded examples of theatre come to us from Ancient Greece. Ancient Grecians had four festivals honoring gods, which were scheduled around the seasons. City Dionysia, a festival honoring the god, Dionysus, was the only festival to have performances. These performances were part of a contest, with the best playwrights/plays winning a prize. The most well-known playwrights of this time are Thespis, Sophocles, Euripedes, Aeschylus, and Aristophanes (Robinson, 2002). Thespis is credited with...
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...THE VISION & MISSION: The vision is to establish a “world class-nucleating centre of achievement.” UITS offers undergraduate and graduate degrees in liberal arts, law, business and ICT with the aim of meeting the national and international market demands. The Mission of the university is to achieve the redefined goals of higher education and sustainable economic growth of the country through a tripartite relationship between itself, industries and reputed universities and institutions at home and abroad. PROGRAM OBJECTIVES: ❑ To reinforce the skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing; ❑ To develop the skills of students in the use of idiomatic English and the capability of expressing ideas and thoughts in English; ❑ To develop and reinforce communicative interaction; ❑ To introduce the understanding of western philosophy and ideas and their influence on literature; ❑ To introduce classical literature, the Greek myths, the Bible and other writings which have influenced English literary works; ❑ To introduce and refine the understanding of American literature with emphasis on some selected literary works; ❑ To increase the appreciation of Bangla literature and culture among students and to develop their ability to relate experiences from English and American literature to Bangla literary works; ❑ To deepen students’ awareness of the universal concerns that are the basis of literary works; ❑ To stimulate a greater appreciation of language as...
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...DOCTOR FAUSTUS – A PSYCHOLOGICAL TRAGEDY Spiritual Combat: Tragedy is regarded as the highest aspect of the dramatic art as in it our emotions are more profoundly stirred than in comedy thereby rendering it more universal in it appeal. And conflict is the essence of or soul of tragedy. All previous dramas including Tamburlaine had dealt with single-minded individuals. If a struggle in the heart of the hero was introduced, it was like that of Morality plays. It was external as in the Jew of Malta because it was between the hero and his adversaries. Doctor Faustus attempted something different. It is a drama of spiritual combat within the soul of man. This struggle is certainly somewhat primitive in its expression but it is a foretaste of those inner characteristics towards which a drama in its development inevitably trends. Faustus in this respect is unquestionably the greatest tragic figure in sixteenth century outside the work of Shakespeare. It is also a modern tragedy because Marlowe broke away from the old Aristotelian concept of tragic hero as being a royal figure of some very lofty stature. He introduced Faustus who is not a prince or a king but a common learned man whose parents are base of stock. Tragic Flaw – cause of his tragedy According to Aristotle, the tragic hero must have some inherent weakness – a tragic flaw which he referred to as Hamartia. He should be neither totally vicious nor good. As per Doctor Faustus, he is puffed with pride and his wisdom....
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...Arellano University College of Arts and Sciences 2600 Legarda st. Sampaloc Manila Library Research Submitted to: Mrs. Acibo Submitted by: Dalia B. Sabucor I. Introduction II. Presentation of Data III. Conclusion IV. Insights Gained V. References I. Introduction Drama Throughout the middle ages, drama and theater only dealt with sacred subjects, such as biblical stories. Profane drama was either unheard of or only performed in burlesque. Classical dramatists were virtually unheard of in the middle ages. All the great dramatists of antiquity, such as the Greek playwrights Sophocles, Aeschylus, and Euripides, and the Roman comedy writers such as Plautus and Terence, were only discovered by humanists in the Renaissance. Although classical drama is more read and studied in the modern period than other classical literature, in the Renaissance it was a distinct last place to epic poetry, lyric poetry, and philosophy. So drama isn't well represented in Renaissance literature. The first dramatist to imitate classical models in Italy was Giangiorgio Trissino, who was a wealthy humanist with an encyclopedic knowledge. Among other things, he was famous as a Neoplatonic philosopher and poet. He, like many others, attempted to write an epic poem, L'Italia liberata dai Goti (Italy Liberated from the Goths) which, though it's a poem about Justinian's reconquest of Italy, is mainly an encyclopedia of...
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...DRAMA REACTION OF DEATH OF A SALESMAN ENG 125 DRAMA REACTION OF DEATH OF A SALESMAN Death of a salesman and Hamlet are both great stories and great dramas that over the age other than being taught in school has been left in the dust. The author of death of a salesman is Arthur Miller and his death of a salesman is known to be used in conveying social matter on the American society. Death of a salesman shows how the American dream can be harder to achieve than some people expect it to be. Arthur uses time to his advantage as he uses flashbacks to at one point have a conversation with his dead brother of a past conversation that he is showing other people as he is playing cards. They are used to show his brothers success to try and push him in the right direction for willies sake. His sons also go back to see their past and recollect. Gripping with a influence of the past is a theme that all literature has become in modern literature and of Death of a Salesman ("What Literary Devices Does Miller Use In "Death Of A Salesman"?", 2015). The American Dream The American dream in my eyes is for wealth and happiness and many people would have the same dream and thoughts of what the American dream is and how they would precede it. Willy is always looking for a way to fix his sons after their failures and he uses the aspect of foreshadowing to try and show that even with the best of wises there is not always a way to fix problems for people that do not want to be fixed or that cannot...
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...theatres are let to producing managements on a commercial basis but some are occupied by important subsided companies, including the National Theatre and Royal Shakespeare Companies. The former stages classical and modem plays from all countries; the latter presents Shakespearean plays in Stratford-upon-Avon and a mixed repertoire in London. Many non-repertoire theatres outside London present all kinds of drama and many also put on variety shows and other entertainment. Music in all its forms — pop music, folk music, jazz, light music and brass bands — plays an important role in British cultural life. The widespread interest in classical music is reflected in the large audiences at orchestral concerts and at performances of opera, ballet and chamber music. Regular seasons of opera and ballet are given at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, London. Seasons of opera and operetta in English are given by the English National Opera. There are several thousands of amateur dramatic societies in Britain (some 200 amateur youth theatres among them). Most Universities have active amateur drama clubs and societies. Until reccently the history of the english theatre has been buildaround actors rather then companies. It was hard to find any Londontheatre that even had a consistent policy. There is no permanent staffin British theatres. A play is rehearsed for a few weeks by a company ofactors working together mostly for the first time and it is allowed torun as long as it draws the odious and...
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...D. and the beginning of the Renaissance in approximately the 15th century A.D. Medieval theatre covers all drama produced in Europe over that thousand year period and refers to a variety of genres, including liturgical drama, mystery plays, morality plays, farces and masques. A theatrical performance in the Middle Ages was much more than just an example of a literary genre; it was often a social, religious, and commercial event affecting a whole community and involving not only the spoken word, but also spectacle, music, and even dance. 2. HIGH AND LATE MEDIEVAL THEATRE As the Viking invasions ceased in the middle of the 11th century A.D., liturgical drama had spread from Russia to Scandinavia to Italy. Only in Muslim-occupied Spain were liturgical dramas not presented at all. Despite the large number of liturgical dramas that have survived from the period, many churches would have only performed one or two per year and a larger number never performed any at all. The Feast of Fools was especially important in the development of comedy. The festival inverted the status of the lesser clergy and allowed them to ridicule their superiors and the routine of church life. Sometimes plays were staged as part of the occasion and a certain amount of burlesque and comedy crept into these performances. Although comic episodes had to truly wait until the separation of drama from the liturgy, the Feast of Fools undoubtedly had a profound effect on the development of comedy in both...
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...Indigenous Theater The Rituals The native Filipino beliefs are central to gods and deities, who controls forces of nature, the passages of all living things and the vital activities of the tribe. And to communicate to gods special mediums are to be used. The babaylans, tambalan, albularyo are these medium. There are many rituals but the ritual which is drama is where the shaman goes into a trance and kills the sacrificial animal common to these rituals which represent as the supplicant or humble petitioner to the gods to provide for the people. Throughout centuries rituals are known as – pag-aanito, anituan, anito-baylan, bunong, pagdidiwata and a host of other indigenous lexis. Rituals are used for variety of reasons. To cure sickness, for a bountiful harvest, rites of passage, marriage and a host of other reasons, all involve carrying out sacrifices, chants, prayers, offerings that aims to appease, please the higher being. If these rituals do not get the sick cured, they do not deserve to get well. The Aeta of Florida Blanca has a ritual where a shaman dances to “scare” away sickness. The sick sit on the grounds in rows covered in red cloth as the gitada (guitar) plays and the manganito (priest) dance frighten the sickness causing spirits away with bolos or offers them food in banana leaf to leave the infirm. Towards the end of the dance, the long red cloth is pulled symbolizing the “departure” of the spirit. Rituals connected to harvest usually involve killing...
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...spirit!” (The Help, 2011). Audiences know what to expect from movies from their Genres,” they tell their audience up front what to expect from the product they are buying. If they like a particular kind of story, chances are they will like this particular film, especially if the writer and director give the expectations a little twist” (Truby, 2010). Genre theory is used in the examination of films in order to enable the classification of films. Genres are dependent on many influences, such as story line, what the audience expects and who the director is. Genre theory is how we describe films; it is the method of shortening literary works. Plot and Story The feature-length film I chose was The Help (2013), which is an American Drama film depicting the lives of black maids and their white employers exposing the racism that the black maids faced on a daily basis. The time is 1963 set in Jackson, Mississippi during the civil rights movement. The film that follows the lives of two black maids and a southern society girl (Emma Stone), who returns home from college, eager to launch her dreams of being a writer. Skeeter wants to write a book to explain that racism doesn’t just mean withholding of education and voting rights. It is told from the perspective of the black maids so it is narrated through the movie as the voice of black maids that suffered the racism from their employers. The interviewing of the black maids, who spent their lives taking care...
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...Brandon Parsons 2.The definition i would give for literature is "written books that have value and are timeless". The thing about good literature is that it does not have to be recent. Many works of literature from hundreds of years ago are still interesting and valueable to the modern day reader. Although times have changed, human nature really has not. People still can relate and have the same feelings as the characters in a book from centurys ago. Humans still have man vs self conflict, experience madness, jealousy, joy and sadness and can really appreciate literature that portray emotions that they have experienced. Literature can not be any old book, it has to be good. A book that does not interest the reader or provide any significant value will not stand the test of time. Good literature is drama-filled and will keep the reader on edge guessing what will come next. Also, it is helpful if the literature has a lesson or value. Humans from the 21st century are able to learn from the themes of older literature and relate them to what they have going on in their modern day lives. A meaningless book can be entertaining but will not have the same effect as a book that is able to hook the readers interest but also apply to everyday life. 3. Iv never been a person who has loved to read literature. A lot of times i have found myself bored and uninteristed in what i am reading. With that said i have learned to appreciate good literature. In my opinion the best type of literature...
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...Juliet takes a very different and much more modern approach to the prologue than Zeffirelli in his 1968 production. The prologue in Zeffirelli version is filmed in a very different way to Luhrmanns’. The first time the prologue is read in Luhrmanns version is by a women reading the news. She reads it in a way a typical newsreader would read it in today’s time. This draws in the watcher because obviously having a TV there suggests that it’s modern and Romeo and Juliet is a very traditional, old play. To have it modern draws in the audience because it’s a different approach and it’s also more relatable when it’s set in the modern day. The prologue in Zeffirellis version, however, is filmed in a different way. Whilst one man reads the prologue the camera slowly pans over Verona. It is a very calming prologue. The narrator reads it out slowly and with a calming tone where as in Luhrmanns the narrator reads it in a much more dramatic tone that suggests something dramatic is going to happen. This draws the reader in because the audience in because they feel like to have a calm start to such a tragic play, then there will surely be a massive contrast which is true because Act 1, Scene 1 is a fight scene in the marketplace of Verona. The two different prologues draw the reader in in two different ways. Whilst Zeffirellis is calming and gentle and provides contrast for the audience, Luhrmanns is much more dramatic and provides a build up of drama to the audience which captivates...
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