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Assisted Resonance in Ancient Theatres

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 January 2009

Extract

Looking back, as we do, from the films and television of the twentieth century, we are inclined to think of Greek theatregoers as very serious-minded people, who suffered hard stone seats for days on end to watch a succession of tragedies, each with a solid intellectual content, performed against an austere stage setting by actors who could achieve only a distant approach to realism. We are constantly reminded of the very severe treatment meted out to Euripides for his experimental innovations. He tried out the use of blasphemous expressions—the equivalent, in his dramatic setting, of the four-letter words in modern ‘realistic’ drama: but Hippolytus' cry, ⋯ γλ⋯σσ' ⋯μώμοχ', ⋯ δ⋯ φρ⋯ν ⋯νώμοτος, was parodied mercilessly by the comic poets for years afterwards. Another of his ‘gimmicks’ was the tragic hero in rags, a device which anticipates in some respects the recent trend of ‘kitchensink drama’.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © The Classical Association 1967

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References

page 82 note 1 For a technical discussion of the probable significance of Aristoxenus' terms, see Winnington-Ingram, R. P., CQ xxvi (1932), 195 ff.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

page 93 note 1 I am very grateful to Mr. Hope Bagenal, F.R.I.B.A., for calling my attention to this system, and to relevant literature.