Comic business : theatricality, dramatic technique, and performance contexts of Aristophanic comedy / Martin Revermann.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Revermann, Martin.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aristophanes--Criticism and interpretation.

Aristophanes.

Theater--Greece--History--To 500.

Theater.

Criticism and interpretation.

Greece.

History.

Physical Description:

xiv, 396 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Oxford ; New York : Oxford University Press, 2006.

Summary:

Comic Business situates Aristophanic comedy in the context of competitive (re)performance culture in 5th- and 4th-century Greece. It seeks to illuminate how the dazzling busyness of Aristophanic comedy is the creation of a carefully manipulating craftsman trying to outdo his rivals in the fierce competition of the dramatic festivals. Theoretically informed by theatre semiotics and frame-based models of conceptualizing the theatrical event, it analyzes in a number of case studies how theatrical resources of all kinds are utilized in order to generate theatrical meaning as well as capture and sustain audience interest. The approach therefore combines philological analysis with methodologies developed in Theatre Studies. Special attention is given to the visual dimension of theatrical communication. Material from comparator traditions is brought to bear, as is the evidence of the pictorial record.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [338]-364) and indexes.

ISBN:

019815271X

OCLC:

61756535

Publisher Number:

9780198152712 (hbk.)