Mythologizing the Narrative: An Analytical Study of Turnage/Berkoff’s &amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Greek&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt; (1989) and the Nature of Operatic Narrative

Alexander Chih-Yuan Mai

doi:10.11648/j.ellc.20210603.15

Abstract

This paper focuses on literary adaptation of the genre of music theatre, i.e. opera and its strong association with mythic narrative. It will begin with a brief discussion on the hybrid nature of music theatre and its inner struggle between the Apollonian/verbal and the Dionysian/musical principles. In order to fully apprehend operatic narrative, it is necessary to explore the connection between opera and its predecessor, the ancient Greek theatre and the genre’s association with myth and ritual. The paper will analyse a twentieth century English operatic adaptation and its social and cultural implications by using <i>Greek</i> (1989) as an example. In crafting a modern version of an ancient myth, some plausible equivalence of the original narrative motivation must be incorporated if the functional and explanatory elements are not to be lost. Opera can be considered to be the direct descendent of its ancient Greek predecessor. Furthermore, from a social and cultural prospective, opera has transformed the ancient rite of religious sacrifice into a secular social and communal offering. The nature of operatic libretto also reflects the essential characteristics of a double sacrifice in the genre of music theatre. Singers offer their talents in representing the scapegoat in a pseudo religious ritual in the modern society; librettists offer words for the ultimate amalgamation with music in the genre of music theatre. The paper concludes with the idea that the genre of music theatre is designed to epitomise a condensation of human emotions and as an offering which corresponding to the modern society’s need for ritualistic sacrifice and spiritual purification.

Highlights

Opera is an artistic format which is constituted by the amalgamation of words and music
The paper will firstly explore the element of mythic narrative and the Apollonian character in the genre of music theatre
By studying operatic adaptations which are based on celebrated literary works, the importance and indicative characteristics of the genre can be revealed

Summary

Introduction

Opera is an artistic format which is constituted by the amalgamation of words and music. It is fascinating that Turnage turned Berkoff’s outcry against the climate that spawned Thatcherism into an opera just at the time when Thatcher’s monetarist policies, and her infamous denial that there is any such thing as society, had made real on the British streets the riots and police brutality that Berkoff had predicted in his Greek.” [3] the playwright’s overly generalized and unfocused style exposes the play as being in desperate need of narrative and emotional precision: it is a long journey from Thebes to unpleasant pubs or football matches. The inclusion of the mythical plague in Greek only increases readers’ bewilderment as Berkoff immediately abandons any hints of justification for its presence in the play, only mentioning it casually towards the end of the work As a result, this catastrophic pandemic has had no real part in the action and no intelligible bearing on the plot or its background. As Berkoff himself remarks, Greek needed no extra research because it is basically only about himself. [7] As a consequence, almost every aspect of Greek is absorbed into the wrapped contemplation of Eddy/Berkoff, which results in a prolonged narcissistic self-reflection, and certainly not the intricate moral or political analysis found in Oedipus Rex

Mythic Narrative

Ritualistic Sacrifice

Conclusion