Seneca On The Stage

In the absence of the stage directions employed by their modern equivalents, ancient playwrights were obliged to ''encode'' information into their texts that can be described as implicit stage directions. It is the presence of such information that permits modern ''production criticism,'' intended to determine how ancient plays were meant to be staged. Since the early nineteenth century, it has been debated whether Seneca's tragedies were or were not written for stage production. Seneca's dramatic texts contain material that looks precisely like the implicit stage directions found in all other ancient drama, and when his plays are subjected to production criticism, it emerges that they make sound dramaturgic sense. Also, Seneca avails himself of the same artificial and sometimes irrational dramatic conventions used by other ancient playwrights, a fact often ignored by those who argue that Seneca was only writing plays for reading or recitation. The internal evidence of the plays offers much to support, and little to contradict, the idea that his plays were written with the stage in mind.

The plays of Seneca the Younger, minister and philosopher under Nero, are today increasingly studied, appreciated and performed. Here, in twelve new papers from a distinguished international cast, scholars explore established questions, such as whether the plays were written for the stage, and newer topics such as the playwright's subtleties of characterisation, his relation to contemporary Roman spectacle and art - and the problems arising in translating him to modern text or stage.

A.J. Keulen’s new commentary on Seneca’s Troades is the fruit of a lifetime devotion to this play. This extensive philological commentary on the Troades is a most welcome contribution to the study of Seneca’s plays. Meaning, history and usage of Seneca’s vocabulary are thoroughly discussed. The author provides ample comparison with Senecan prose and rival poets. In addition, the commentary addresses composition and word order, and discusses textual, metrical and grammatical difficulties. A full bibliography and three indices complete this valuable book.

This is the first commentary to be written in English on Seneca's Phoenissae, an intriguing work on account of its unusual structure and state of incompletion. The substantial introduction deals, inter alia, with the question of the unity and purpose of the work; the absence of an ending and of choral lyrics; the philosophical, rhetorical, and political content; Seneca's treatment of the Theban legend. The commentary is primarily a literary analysis of the text, but textual, linguistic, metrical, and grammatical difficulties are also elucidated. With the resurgence of interest in Senecan drama in the last two decadese, this book is a valuable addition to English commentaries that appeared on most of the plays.

Tragic Seneca undertakes a radical re-evaluation of Seneca's plays, their relationship to Roman imperial culture and their instrumental role in the evolution of the European theatrical tradition. Following an introduction on the history of the Roman theatre, the book provides a dramatic and cultural critique of the whole of Seneca's corpus, analysing the declamatory form of the plays, their rhetoric, interiority, stagecraft and spectacle, dramatic, ideological and moral structure and their overt theatricality. Each of Seneca's plays is examined in detail, locating the force of Senecan drama not only in the moral complexity of the texts and their representations of power, violence, history, suffering and the self, but the semiotic interplay of text, tradition and culture. The later chapters focus on Seneca's influence on Italian, English and French drama of the Renaissance. A.J. Boyle argues that tragedians such as Cinthio, Kyd, Marlowe, Shakespeare, Webster, Corneille, and Racine owe a debt to Seneca that goes beyond allusion, dramatic form and the treatment of tyranny and revenge to the development of the tragic sensibility and the metatheatrical mind. Tragic Seneca attempts to restore Seneca to a central position in the European literary tradition. It will provide readers and directors of Seneca's plays with the essential critical guide to their intellectual, cultural and dramatic complexity.

Fresh insight into the dramaturgical practices of the Younger Seneca

Based on extensive archival research and containing rare and previously unpublished photos, this book provides the most detailed reconstruction ever of one of the most important events in Spanish theatrical history.Winner of the 2019-20 AHGBI-Spanish Embassy Publication Prize On 18 June 1933, one of the most important events in Spanish theatrical history took place before an audience of 3,000 spectators in the ruins of the Roman Theatre in Mérida. Translated into Spanish by philosopher Miguel de Unamuno, staged by the renowned Xirgu-Borràs Company and funded by the government, the performance of Seneca''s Medea was a triumph of republican culture and widely hailed for its new dramatic and scenic languages. This book provides the most detailed reconstruction of this pivotal production to date, setting it in context and analysing its origin and legacy. Early twentieth-century intellectuals considered Seneca, ''the philosopher from Córdoba'', the epitome of Spanishness and the first in an illustrious line of playwrights stretching from Spain''s Roman Antiquity to its Silver Age. His play was seen as the ideal vehicle to showcase the Second Spanish Republic''s cultural, social and educational agenda but provoked a furious backlash from opponents to the government''s progressive programme. The book shows how the performance became a cultural ritual which stood at the centre of critical discussions on national identity, politics, secularism, women''s rights and new European aesthetics of theatre-making. Based on extensive archival research and containing rare and previously unpublished photos, it will be of interest to theatre historians, scholars of Classical Reception and historians of the Second Spanish Republic.aywrights stretching from Spain''s Roman Antiquity to its Silver Age. His play was seen as the ideal vehicle to showcase the Second Spanish Republic''s cultural, social and educational agenda but provoked a furious backlash from opponents to the government''s progressive programme. The book shows how the performance became a cultural ritual which stood at the centre of critical discussions on national identity, politics, secularism, women''s rights and new European aesthetics of theatre-making. Based on extensive archival research and containing rare and previously unpublished photos, it will be of interest to theatre historians, scholars of Classical Reception and historians of the Second Spanish Republic.aywrights stretching from Spain''s Roman Antiquity to its Silver Age. His play was seen as the ideal vehicle to showcase the Second Spanish Republic''s cultural, social and educational agenda but provoked a furious backlash from opponents to the government''s progressive programme. The book shows how the performance became a cultural ritual which stood at the centre of critical discussions on national identity, politics, secularism, women''s rights and new European aesthetics of theatre-making. Based on extensive archival research and containing rare and previously unpublished photos, it will be of interest to theatre historians, scholars of Classical Reception and historians of the Second Spanish Republic.aywrights stretching from Spain''s Roman Antiquity to its Silver Age. His play was seen as the ideal vehicle to showcase the Second Spanish Republic''s cultural, social and educational agenda but provoked a furious backlash from opponents to the government''s progressive programme. The book shows how the performance became a cultural ritual which stood at the centre of critical discussions on national identity, politics, secularism, women''s rights and new European aesthetics of theatre-making. Based on extensive archival research and containing rare and previously unpublished photos, it will be of interest to theatre historians, scholars of Classical Reception and historians of the Second Spanish Republic.ce became a cultural ritual which stood at the centre of critical discussions on national identity, politics, secularism, women''s rights and new European aesthetics of theatre-making. Based on extensive archival research and containing rare and previously unpublished photos, it will be of interest to theatre historians, scholars of Classical Reception and historians of the Second Spanish Republic.

This new and important introduction to Seneca provides a systematic and concise presentation of this author’s philosophical works and his tragedies. It provides handbook style surveys of each genuine or attributed work, giving dates and brief descriptions, and taking into account the most important philosophical and philological issues. In addition, they provide accounts of the major steps in the history of their later influence. The cultural background of the texts and the most important problem areas within the philosophic and tragic corpus of Seneca are dealt with in separate essays.