COURSE DETAIL
This course introduces the dramatic performance traditions of the ancient Greek world. Focusing on Athens, students study ancient plays as literary texts and performance scripts and explore elements of poetics, the production of drama such as performance venues (theatres, festivals, games) and the conventions and practicalities of staging, as well as drama’s civic and religious contexts, historical development, and value as source of cultural information. Students critically discuss the content, themes, and structure of the studied plays. Students analyze extracts from and aspects of the studied plays. Students situate the studied plays in their performance contexts and comment on the relevance of these contexts for their understanding. The course also explores the significance of ancient drama for the audiences of selected later restaging, translations, and adaptations, from antiquity to the present day.