BMCR 2009.01.18, Pavli/na N. Si/pova/, Staging of Classical Drama

Pavli/na N. Si/pova/, Alena Sarkissian (ed.), Staging of Classical
Drama Around 2000.  Newcastle, UK:  Cambridge Scholars Publishing,
2007.  Pp. 227.  ISBN 9781847183187.  L34.99.

Reviewed by Timothy Dugan, St Francis College, NY
([email protected])
Word count:  1502 words
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[Authors and titles are listed at the end of the review.]

Staging of Classical Drama Around 2000 is the published findings of a
2005 symposium on classical drama hosted by the Institute of
Philosophy-Institute for Classical Studies, Academy of Sciences of the
Czech Republic. The symposium was a call to scholars of classical
reception and performance anthropology to convene in Prague for the
estimable purpose of identifying and sharing, "contemporary trends in
staging of ancient drama and different approaches to the theme in
different countries" (xi). To that end, presenters and respondents from
a panoply of regions (Great Britain, Scandinavia, Eastern and Central
Europe, Japan, Oceania) gathered field research and data on myriad
aspects of classical adaptation and production; the sum-total of this
gathering is sixteen provocative chapters on classical performance
deriving from a specifically ethnic, native or regional point of view.

Let me begin with my one reservation, which concerns translation and
suggests the press, "aiming to promote knowledge and learning through
the production and distribution of valuable academic works" (from the
press website), has a problem to consider. A passage from "Chapter
Eight: Different Answers to the Same Questions: Staging Oresteia In
Greek On The Turn Of A Century" is indicative of the problem: "In
Agamemnon, Kassandra's omen is written in red letters on a black wall
and in vice-versa as a sign of death, while ancient frictoria is
presented with the help of common lighters and with the announcement of
the ancient sites followed by their nowadays adaptation in modern Greek
(133)." That account is contained in an essay that in spite of its
rocky translation offers valuable insight into the reclamation of
Greece's national classical ethos: "The story that leads to Lignadis'
Oresteia actually goes back to a century ago to the very first Oresteia
of the National Theatre of Greece (then called Royal Greek Theatre), in
November of 1903. This was meant to be the first Ancient Greek
production of the Royal Theatre ever; and unfortunately, it was also
meant to be the very first theatrical scandal ever made, regarding
productions of Ancient Drama in modern Greece." This reservation aside,
the prodigious output of the Prague summit, Staging of Classical Drama
Around 2000 has much to offer.

Although the Preface is thin, the Introduction by theater historian and
reception scholar Lorne Hardwick  is expansive and salutary, and
provides an overview of themes specific to the sixteen essays and
denotes the synergy and vitality of the "Around 2000" conferees: "Each
of the essays has a specialized contribution to make. However, the
total impact of the whole section will be even greater than the sum of
its parts because the authors not only intersect in their discussions
of common concerns in modern performance of Greek drama but also
provide case studies that will add to the knowledge base and critical
acumen of everyone working in the field" (7).

Although this multifarious collection would be challenging for
undergraduates, reception scholars and M.F.A. candidates in performance
will need this book. I would specifically cite Akiko Tomatsuri's, "The
Use of Silence in Tadashi Suzuki's Electra ," and Angeliki Zachou's,
"The Use of Music in Greek Performances of Ancient Greek Drama in the
20th Century" as critical resources in the application of music, sound,
and silence in classical renewal. I would also cite Paul Monaghan's,
"Greek Tragedy in Australia: 1984-2005 ," and Hesham Hassan's, "The
Influences of Ancient Greek Drama on Modern Egyptian Theatre" as
exemplary histories on the development of classical dramatic art in
"settlement" and "invaded" settings (38, 102). The supposition of
author Hassan that Napoleon transported combat infantry and classically
trained actors to the Saharan continent to occupy and (collaterally)
acculturate the Egyptians is intriguing: "The Arab world got acquainted
with theatre when Napoleon invaded Egypt (1798-1810), as some actors
came along with his [sic] soldiery to entertain the soldiers" (102).

In addition, I would cite Andreja Inkret's essay, "Protagonist and
Protagonistes: Doubling in Modern and Ancient Theatre" (Chapter 10), as
essential reading for theater artists committed to serious
experimentation with the classical milieu. In her argumentative essay,
Inkret identifies the 2005 Slovak National Theater production of
Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus as case study in the efficacy of
non-traditional, cross-gender, and double casting (the reassigning or
"doubling up" of the major roles in a play). According to Inkret, for
both the ancient and modern audience, the convention of "doubling" -- a
form of adaptation in its own right -- is a "plausible effect" that
pushes performers and audience to their limits: "an actor has to cast a
spell upon a spectator every time he comes on stage representing a
different character" (149). To bolster her observations on the history
and process of "doubling" Inkret defers to the ancients: "Was the Greek
stage convention of three speaking actors a restriction imposed on
playwrights or "an ultimate state of perfection ," as Diogenes Laertius
implied in the first half of the third century AD, or perhaps both?"
(156).

Chapter One, "Tragedy Metatheatre and the Question of Representation ,"
by Eleutheria Ioannidou, will be of particular interest to theater
practitioners. In a short segment entitled "Reconciliation with the
Tragic Text in The Island, by [Athol] Fugard ," Ioannidou touts
Fugard's blistering anti-apartheid prisoner-play as, "the
personification of a lifer's state," and an existential model of
"repetition," "imposed task[s] (rehearsal)," and "forced labours" (24,
25). For Ioannidou the 19th and 20th century models of classical
reinvention (Hofmannsthal, Anouilh, Giraudoux) have been eclipsed by
the "rewriting" and "refiguration[s]" of Fugard, Dario Fo, Franca Rame,
Andreas Staikos ("the modern Greek playwright"); and (unexpectedly)
"Ireland's leading dramatist, Brian Friel" (12). Perhaps a return to
the ancients by such a disparate group of authors is the aftershock of
apartheid, internment, the colonels, and imbedded Mafioso corruption in
their respective homelands, but as author Ionnidou notes, "the classics
are central to their literary historical past" (12 n17).

Three of the sixteen essays in Staging of Classical Drama Around 2000
provide disquieting black and white photographs (e.g., tableaux in
psychiatric ward, a prisoner-of-war camp, a murky tavern) of recent
classical productions. These include Divadlo U Stolu's (Theater at the
Table),King Oedipus (Fig. 13-1,2,3); Valmet Theater's, Electra, (Fig
14,1-5); Oedipus Tyrannus at the Slovak National Theater,(15-1); and
Divadlo's, Trojan Women(Fig. 15-2). All of the photographs are
representative of the prevailing experimental logic of the Prague
conference call to mind the lean auteur productions of Joe Chaikin,
Richard Schechner, Julian Beck and Judith Malina (to name a few).

The 16th and capstone essay in this collection, "The Open University
Reception of Classical texts: Research Project Data Base," by Prof.
Lorne Harwick, expounds on the "integration" of scholarly databases
with the standards and practices of worldwide electronic technologies.
As Prof. Hardwick notes, this "integration" is central to the
credibility and sustainability of reception studies: "The data base and
other material had to be prepared to the standards required by the Arts
and Humanities Data Service in the UK in order to ensure its continued
public availability after the completion of the work of the project"
(213). The premium of this essay is Hardwick's announcement of the
launching of an electronic journal of reception studies: "Because
international use of the data base and critical essays has been so
extensive, the website has been expanded to include a refereed
electronic journal for new researchers New Voices in Classical
Reception Research and a section for publication by practitioners is
also being developed (214)."

Staging of Classical Drama Around 2000 is devoted to the posterity of
reception studies. In her contribution to this collection Hardwick
talks of "cultural historians fifty years hence" and of cultural memory
being "irretrievably lost (213)." These are essential observations from
the de facto leader of a very accomplished classical think tank; and,
setting aside the presentation problems in this book, Staging of
Classical Drama Around 2000 is a remarkable document.

Contributors:

Pavli/na Si/pova/ and Alena Sarkissian: Preface

Lorna Hardwick: Introduction

Eleutheria Ioannidou: Tragedy, Metatheatre and the Question of
Representation

Paul Monaghan: Greek Tragedy in Australia: 1984-2005

Linnea Stara: Performing the Raging Other. Medea and the Refugee Woman
in Finland, 1999

Akiko Tomatsuri: The Use of Silence in Tadashi Suzuki'sElectra

Conor Hanratty: What Ninagawa Did Next: Notes on Productions Following
the End of Medea in 1999

Hesham M. Hassan: The Influences of Ancient Greek Drama on Modern
Egyptian Theatre

Dikmen Gueruen: Sophocles Interpretations in Turkish Theatre

Gregory Ioannides: Different Answers to the same questions: Staging
Orestia in Greek on the Turn of a Century

Angeliki Zachou: The Use of music in Greek Performances of Ancient
Drama in the 20th Century

Andreja Inkret: Protagonist and Protagonistes: Doubling in Modern and
Ancient Theatre

Daniela Cadkova/: Contemporary Czech Adaptations of Classical Drama

David Drozd: The Detritus of Antigone by Roman Sikora

Paval Klein: Antiquity, or Symbolism? King Oedipus in Symbolic Attire

Alena Sarkissian: Translating Greek Drama: Three Czech Electras

Da/sa Ciripova/: Staging of Classical Drama around 2000: Ancient Greek
Drama on Slovak Theatre Stages

Lorna Hardwick: The Open University Reception of Classical Texts
Research Project Data Base