Aristophanes in performance, 421 BC-AD 2007 : Peace, Birds and Frogs / edited by Edith Hall and Amanda Wrigley.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Hall, Edith, 1959-

Wrigley, Amanda.

Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (University of Oxford)

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aristophanes--Criticism and interpretation--Congresses.

Aristophanes.

Aristophanes. Peace--Congresses.

Aristophanes. Birds--Congresses.

Aristophanes. Frogs--Congresses.

Aristophanes--Influence--Congresses.

Aristophanes--Comedies--Congresses.

Greek drama (Comedy)--History and criticism--Congresses.

Greek drama (Comedy).

Greek drama--Modern presentation.

Greek drama.

Theater--Production and direction.

Theater.

Criticism and interpretation.

Genre:

Conference papers and proceedings.

Physical Description:

xix, 390 pages : illustrations, portraits ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

London : Legenda, 2007.

Summary:

Flying to Heaven to demand an end to war, building Cloud-cuckooland in the sky, descending to Hades to retrieve a dead tragedian - such were the cosmic missions on which the father of comedy, Aristophanes, sent his heroes of the clasical Athenian stage. The wit, intellectual bravura, political clout and sheer imaginative power of Aristophanes' quest dramas have profoundly influenced humorous literature and satire.

This volume, which originated at an international conference held at the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama at the University of Oxford in 2004, is the first interdisciplinary study of their seminal contribution to the evolution of comic performance. Essays by specialists in Classics, Theatre, and Modern Literatures trace the international performance history of Aristophanic comedy and its implication in aesthetic and political controversies, from antiquity to the twenty-first century. The story encompasses Jonson's satire, Cromwell's Ireland, German classicism, British Imperial India, censorship scandals in France, Greece and South Africa, Brechtian experiments in East Berlin, and musical theatre from Gilbert and Sullivan to Stephen Sondheim.

Contents:

1 Introduction: Aristophanic Laughter across the Centuries / Edith Hall 1

Part I Precedents 31

2 The Ups and Downs of Aristophanic Travel / Ewen Bowie 32

3 Aristophanes in Early Modern England / Matthew Steggle 52

4 The English-Speaking Aristophanes, 1650-1914 / Edith Hall 66

Part II Excursus: Publication as Performance 93

5 Publication as Intervention: Aristophanes in 1659 / Rosie Wyles 94

6 Revolutionary Aristophanes? / Charalampos Orfanos 106

7 Aristophanes' Wealth and Dalpatram's Lakshmi / Phiroze Vasunia 117

Part III Revival to Repertoire 135

8 Aristophanes Revitalized! Music and Spectacle on the Academic Stage / Amanda Wrigley 136

9 From Scandal to Success Story: Aristophanes' Birds as Staged by Karolos Koun / Gonda Van Steen 155

10 The Use of Masks in Koun's Stage Interpretations of Birds, Frogs, and Peace / Angeliki Varakis 179

11 'Aristophanes is Back!' Peter Hacks's Adaptation of Peace / Bernd Seidensticker 194

12 Sondheim Floats Frogs / Mary-Kay Gamel 209

Part IV Close Encounters 231

13 Freeing Aristophanes in South Africa: From High Culture to Contemporary Satire / Betine Van Zyl Smit 232

14 Aristophanes' Peace on the Twentieth-Century French Stage: From Political Statement to Artistic Failure / Malika Bastin-Hammou 247

15 Poetry and Politics, Advice and Abuse: The Aristophanic Chorus on the Italian Stage / Martina Treu 255

16 A Poet without 'Gravity': Aristophanes on the Italian Stage / Francesca Schironi 267

17 A Version of The Birds in Two Productions / Sean O'Brien 276

18 Translating/Transposing Aristophanes / Michael Silk 287

19 Aristophanes in Translation before 1920 / Vasiliki Giannopoulou 309.

Notes:

Based on a conference "Aristophanes upstairs and downstairs: Peace, Birds and Frogs in ancient and modern performance", held at Magdalen College, Oxford, 16-18 September 2004.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9781904350613

1904350615

OCLC:

77541264