Dramatic Action In Greek Tragedy And Noh

By looking at 15th/16th realistic noh and Greek tragedies through the lens of Aristotle and of each other, this comparison reveals a previously unnoticed relationship between the structure of the tragedies and their performance, that is, the involvement of the third actor at the climactic moments of the plot in both and the actor stepping out of character in noh. This observation helps to account for Aristotle’s view that tragedy be limited to three actors.

Oliver Taplin's seminal study was revolutionary in drawing out the significance of stage action in Greek tragedy at a time when plays were often read purely as texts, rather than understood as performances. Professor Taplin explores nine plays, including Aeschylus' agamemnon and Sophocles' Oedipus the King. The details of theatrical techniques and stage directions, used by playwrights to highlight key moments, are drawn out and related to the meaning of each play as a whole. With extensive translated quotations, the essential unity of action and speech in Greek tragedy is demonstrated. Now firmly established as a classic text, Greek Tragedy in Action is even more relevant today, when performances of Greek tragedies and plays inspired by them have had such an extraordinary revival around the world.

This volume of five noh translations (containing an introduction, translations, short commentaries and a glossary) differs from most others in that none of the plays are of the mugenno type, but are instead genzaino, real-life noh. The plays focus on living characters rather than spirits or ghosts, and on dramatic action rather than poetry, song and dance. In addition the five noh satisfy several of the most important features of Aristotle's definition of good tragedy. That is, they all have plot, which Aristotle says in his Poetics is the imitation of action. The plot centers on characters who are related to each other or are a part of the same household. In each plot, a fatal or harmful event is either enacted or threatened, and there is an unexpected change in the direction of the action. In Shun'ei, a father, visited by his son, is pardoned from a death sentence; in Dampu, a son visits his father, who is then executed, and upon avenging his father's death, unexpectedly escapes the killer's henchmen; in Shichikiochi and Nakamitsu, a son thought to have been killed turns up alive, much to the amazement of his father; and finally, in Nishikido, a brother turns on his own brother and attacks with military force.This volume is intended to provide the reader with a translation of noh plays that either have not been previously translated into English or have not been translated for a long time. The translations are as faithful as possible to the original Japanese so that the reader can gain a close glimpse of the language and action of this particular type of noh. It is a noh filled with action compared to many that have been translated, a noh that appealed to the public at large during the medieval period. Bibliography and scholarly notes are kept to a minimum.

A Handbook to the Reception of Greek Drama offers a series of original essays that represent a comprehensive overview of the global reception of ancient Greek tragedies and comedies from antiquity to the present day. Represents the first volume to offer a complete overview of the reception of ancient drama from antiquity to the present Covers the translation, transmission, performance, production, and adaptation of Greek tragedy from the time the plays were first created in ancient Athens through the 21st century Features overviews of the history of the reception of Greek drama in most countries of the world Includes chapters covering the reception of Greek drama in modern opera and film

Situated within contemporary posthumanism, this volume offers theoretical and practical approaches to materiality in Greek tragedy. Established and emerging scholars explore how works of the three major Greek tragedians problematize objects and affect, providing fresh readings of some of the masterpieces of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. The so-called new materialisms have complemented the study of objects as signifiers or symbols with an interest in their agency and vitality, their sensuous force and psychosomatic impact-and conversely their resistance and irreducible aloofness. At the same time, emotion has been recast as material "affect,†? an intense flow of energies between bodies, animate and inanimate. Powerfully contributing to the current critical debate on materiality, the essays collected here destabilize established interpretations, suggesting alternative approaches and pointing toward a newly robust sense of the physicality of Greek tragedy.

Shows how contemporary adaptations, on the stage and on the page, can breathe new life into Greek tragedy.