The Theatricality of Greek Tragedy: Playing Space and Chorus

247 Pages·2007·1.44 MB·English

by  Graham Ley

the theatricality of greek tragedy

the theatricality of
Greek Tragedy
playing space and chorus
graham ley
the university of chicago press
Chicago and London
graham leyis professor of drama and theory at the University of
Exeter. He is the author of, among other books, A Short Introduction to Greek
Tragedy, also published by the University of Chicago Press.
The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637
The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London
© 2007 by The University of Chicago
All rights reserved. Published 2007
Printed in the United States of America
16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 1 2 3 4 5
isbn-13: 978-0-226-47757-2 (cloth)
isbn-10: 0-226-47757-6 (cloth)
Library of Congrss Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Ley, Graham.
The theatricality of Greek tragedy : playing space and chorus / Graham Ley.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn-13: 978-0-226-47757-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
isbn-10: 0-226-47757-6 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Greek drama (Tragedy)—History and criticism. 2. Theater—
Greece—History—To 500. 3. Drama—Technique. I. Title.
PA3201 .L48 2007
882'.0109—dc22
2006018877
oThe paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements
of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Perma-
nence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
for teresa and kiri,
and in memory of alice (1913–2004)

Contents
Preface ix
Scope of the Book ix
Rationale for the Diagrams and Drawings xi
Further Comments and Acknowledgments xix
1 the playing space 1
The Scripts and the Playing Space 1
The Surviving Tragedies of Aeschylus and Early Tragic
Performance 4
Choros,Actors/Characters, and Playing Space in the Earlier
Tragedies of Aeschylus 9
Persians 9
Suppliants 16
Seven against Thebes 20
Composition for the Playing Space in Aeschylus’s Oresteia 24
Agamemnon 28
Libation Bearers 33
Eumenides 36
Realizing the Tragic Playing Space after Aeschylus 45
Altars and Tombs in the Playing Space after Aeschylus 46
Performers and Vehicles in the Playing Space 69
contents
Three Kinds of Vocal Delivery in Tragedy 83
Movement and Dancing in the Playing Space 85
Actors/Characters and Choros:Chanting, Singing and Dancing
viii in the Playing Space 91
Appendix A: Chronology of the Surviving Plays 112
2 the chorus 114
The Chorosin Epic 115
Composition for the Choros 124
Music: Meter or Measure, Melody, and Mode 132
Meter 138
Melody and Modes 143
Dancing 150
Strophe, Antistrophe, and Choreia 167
Dithyrambs 173
The Theatrical Choroi:Definitions and Distinctions 181
Appendix B: Time Line for Chapter 2 200
Conclusion 202
References 207
Index 215
Preface
scope of the book
This book deals with two problems that are central to the appreciation of
the performance of ancient Greek tragedy and to our understanding of the
art form itself. Through presenting a variety of evidence and conducting
a careful review of it in the book, I hope to make the particular nature of
these problems accessible to those who may not be specialists or linguists
but who do have a strong interest in the ancient Greek theater and in the-
ater in general.
The problem of the playing space is largely empirical because it concerns
the disposition of performers, and my approach to it in chapter 1 relies on
the practical implications of the surviving scripts and often on those forms
of research that have been conducted practically. In order to appreciate the
kind of theater that Greek tragedy was, we need to understand the condi-
tions for which the scripts were composed, and, as I observe in chapter 1, to
do that we need to work substantially in reverse, from the scripts to the con-
ditions for which they were composed.
The problem of the chorus is of a diΩerent kind because it involves ques-
tions of music and dancing and our own cultural puzzlement over this kind
of performance for which we have no real equivalent. It is, in that sense, an
intricate problem, and in chapter 2 I have tried to trace it for the reader,
commenting on the various proposals that have been made about diΩerent
aspects of it. Although I cannot suggest a resolution, I hope that the critique
and evaluation of proposals and my own concluding suggestions will lead
readers to greater confidence by the close of the chapter.
Both chapters involve considerable detail, of diΩerent kinds, but I have