Description
Book SynopsisThe visual effect of the staging of Aeschylus'' plays was an essential part of their impact. And yet all that survives today are the scripts. Imagination, helped by anachronistic sources, has played the chief role for those dealing with the dramaturgy of Aeschylus'' works, and the result has usually been stages crowded with extras and equipment.In this book, the author approaches the subject from a completely different angle. He clears the stage and looks for clues of Aeschylus'' stagecraft in the texts of the plays themselves. He concentrates his study in an analysis of the exits and entrances in Aeschylus'' works with constant reference to the practice of Sophocles and Euripides as well. His arguments and conclusions are fascinating and thought-provoking, and make the book indispensable for anyone interested in ancient Greek drama and its staging.
Trade Review'A fascinating commentary. Every controversial passage (and there are many) is discussed with incisive intelligence, great learning, and also good-humoured respect for opposing views.' Bernard Knox, Times Literary Supplement
'Dr Taplin has made Greek tragedy more vivid and more accessible to us all, to the professional classicist, to the historian of the stage, and to would-be performers of ancient drama. Mark Griffith, Phoenix
'This substantial and original work of scholarship is essential for anyone who wants to gain a serious understanding of Greek tragedy in performance. It is the combination of the attempted reconstruction of the stage-action with sustained, perceptive reading of the plays in the light of this reconstruction that gives this study its specific value.' Christopher Gill, University of Exeter, Theatre Research International Autmun '90
Table of ContentsPersai; seven against Thebes; Hiketides; Prometheus; Aganemnon; Choephoroi; Eumenides.
