Classical Drama Research Articles

Chess and Freedom

Abstract The tension between the game of chess as strictly regulated by rules and the idea of freedom can be traced in three radidal examples separated by media and different periods of the twentieth century. The first emphatic employment of the concept of freedom is in the title of a chess journal issued by the Communist opposition of the central German working-class chess organization at the end of the Weimar Republic. In the journal Frei Schach! the radical subsection of “Red Sports Unity” asserts its claim for supremacy, demanding revolutionary goals in the class struggle. But this journalistic appeal to freedom was countered by the use of the same concept by the moderate alternative central chess organisation, and soon even by the National Socialists suppressing both working-class organisations. In the cultural scene after the second world war there was a distant, strangely depoliticized echo of freedom in chess. In the Austrian avantgarde dramatist Wolfgang Bauer`s version of Ibsen`s modernist revision of classical drama in the play Ghosts there is a farcical use of everyday objects as a replacement of chess elements. They function as a postmodern parody of the conventional structures of a conversation play. Compared to such highly idiosyncratic ludic transformation of chess games, today`s digitalized chess in which the computer is the final arbiter makes the game more accessible to the masses. The surface democratic appeal in which average players can turn into critics of the chess elite is accompanied by the complete subjection to digitalisation on a late capitalist agenda. However, this does not completely deprive the traditional game of chess of its promise of playful enjoyment for an increasing number of people on a global scale.

The Performer-Audience Connection of Immersive Performance from the Standpoint of Consumption Logic: A Case Study of Sleep No More Shanghai Edition

One of the steps that art takes to become a commodity is moving from a holiness that is isolated from ordinary life to a secularity that encourages art to engage with its audience. The audience-centered relationship has become the current trend of performance. As a result, the relationship between audience and performance is more open in an immersive performance because the audience no longer maintains the ritual feeling of watching the play while they are seated upright in the theater. This study makes a comparative analysis of the immersive performance Sleep No More which is different from the classic drama Macbeth ,in terms of performer-audience connection. It explores how immersive performance transforms the pure performer-audience connection into the interaction of performance and surroundings, as well as audience and consumption. Last but not least, it acknowledges the artistic worth of performance as well as the market value of consumption.

The classical drama as contested heritage in modern Greece: theatre productions from private initiatives to state projects in the 1930s

Abstract Performing classical drama at ancient venues in interwar Greece reflected the socio-cultural context of the time. The development of archaeological tourism and the perception of classical monuments as heterotopic spaces created particular political and ideological needs. Until the mid-1930s, private theatre companies and individual artists reused classical venues such as the Odeon of Herodes Atticus and the theatre of Epidaurus to stage productions that gradually attracted local, national, and international attention. But by 1936, the National Theatre began exploiting the socio-political potential of ancient theatres and classical drama festivals and state-sponsored productions dominated the Greek theatrical stage. During this period, the claims of exclusivity on the part of the National Theatre and the National Conservatoire defined their competition with private companies and shaped the course of the revival of classical drama in twentieth-century Greece.

READING SILAPPADIKARAM IN THE CONTEMPORARY TIMES: A STUDY OF ITS PERFORMATIVE ASPECTS

Silappadikaram is a classic literary work of ancient Tamil society, believed to have been composed around the 5th century BCE by Ilango Adigal. It encompasses elements of Jainism, Buddhism, and other religious traditions then prevalent, and also it incorporates themes, myths, and theological principles from each of the belief systems. The epic offers a vivid portrayal of both virtuous and malevolent deeds, while exploring themes of joy and suffering. What sets Silappadikaram apart from other epics is that the text focuses on an ordinary couple, as opposed to kings and armies. The text painstakingly demonstrates the behavioural nuances of society, ranging from commoners to rulers. Love and separation, gaining and losing power, are recurring themes in Indian classical dramas by notable playwrights like Vishakadatta, Kalidas, Bhasa, and Bhavabhuti, etc. These plays were created with the intention of influencing society, specifically targeting individuals in positions of power and authority. However, post-colonial Indian theatre took a different approach, placing common individuals as protagonists in the plays. Works such as Aadhe Adhure, Ghashiram Kotwal, Hayavadana, and Sakharam Binder address prevalent societal issues, with the central character being an ordinary person. The main aspects of modern theatre and the plays mentioned here primarily explore the everyday activities of common individuals and how they are influenced by other members of society, economic factors, and politics. This paper studies the contemporary relevance of Silappadikaram in modern theatre by drawing a comparison with these modern Indian plays.

Comparative Analysis of the Treatment of the Alcestis-Stuff by Euripides and by Wilder

This is the starting point of the following analysis: Life and death belong indissolubly together, but nobody of us knows what is waiting for us when we will have died. According to Christian religion the dead shall resurrect again and start immediately into an eternal life full of happiness in an unknown atmosphere without any sorrows and any problems to overcome. The ancient writers, that lived before Jesus Christ, had at hand an underworld as the realm of that god that is responsible for death. In very rare and exceptional cases a very deserved dead is given the allowance to enter again into his former earthen life. This procedure of bringing a dead person back to life might be a kind of deal between deities and mankind in this way that another person had to die and then to live in the underworld instead of the doomed person. This stuff is a subject-matter of legends, fairy tales and finally of classical drama. The heroes of the drama are Admetus and Alcestis – a royal couple; Admetus is doomed to death and his wife Alcestis wants to die instead of her husband. This treatise is written by an author who is as well a lawyer as a philologist. The treatise uses modern methods of literary comparison, that the author did learn at the examples of ancient texts and modern texts at the Faculty of Philosophy of the University of Saarland (Germany). The comparison between the Euripides-version and the Wilder-version is not an end in itself, the comparison aims to show the given literary differences based on the history of the development of the Alcestis-stuff in the light of the fact that the ancient text is the source for the modern text. Thus it becomes once more clear that the texts of old Greek authors do live on in a figurative sense until modern times. Wilder himself is a modern American author who consciously sought connection to antiquity, also because he did go through very intensive university courses in archaeology. This connection to ancient Greek literature, of course, makes modern American literature very attractive for European readers and for readers from other areas of the world.

Ettore Romagnoli, rievocatore of ancient Greek drama

Abstract The Italian classicist Ettore Romagnoli (1871–938) is mostly remembered as a popularizer of ancient drama through his work as a translator for and artistic director of classical performances at the Greek theatre of Syracuse (1914–27). His theatrical productions were inspired by a programmatic aesthetic approach to the study of classical culture called ‘artistic Hellenism’, which aimed at making the Graeco-Roman classics accessible to a broader audience, as well as renewing Italian prose theatre by referring to the example of the ancient chorodidaskalos. This article aims to describe Romagnoli’s attempt to promote his aesthetics in the staging of Greek drama within the cultural framework of Fascism. Even after his dismissal from the artistic direction of the National Institute of Ancient Drama, which he helped to establish in 1925, Romagnoli strove to find the financial support for his project of a ‘Fascist Institute of Classical Drama’. This Institute never became a reality and was probably intended to compete with the classical productions staged at Syracuse, which in the thirties were undergoing a shift in terms of aesthetics and production management according to the new Fascist politics about theatre matters.

Phenomenon of Romeo Castellucci’s Direction: Aesthetics of the Metatheatrical Form of Destruction

The purpose of the article is to reveal the peculiarities of the aesthetic theatre code of the Italian director Romeo Castellucci. Research methodology. The method of analysis and synthesis, the historical method, the method of systematic, genre-stylistic and art analysis is applied. Scientific novelty. Peculiarities of theatrical direction of the Italian director of the end of the 20th – beginning of the 21st century have been studied. R. Castellucci in the context of his activities in the theatre company "Societas Raffaello Sanzio"; based on the art analysis of R. Castellucci's productions, the master's aesthetic theatrical code was revealed; the concept of "destructive theatre" by R. Castellucci was analysed through the prism of levelling the established codes of classical drama. Conclusions. Mysterious plays staged by the Italian director Romeo Castellucci have captivated the audience for more than several decades. The master creates unique living paintings, which are usually based on classical and religious themes and invoke tectonic, elemental forces – impressive visual effects are usually accompanied by organic soundscapes, and sometimes unfold in quasi-mystical silence. The director's work methodology and his system of ideas form a unique and dynamic aesthetic language. R. Castellucci pursues a meta-theatrical form of destruction through which the body, text, sound, narrative, and language are subjected to permanent decomposition, which destroys the audience's usual expectations of what to see and feel in the theatre. The director's aesthetic theatrical code is based on: the actor's physical extremity; a strange sound world and a peculiar use of dramatic speech (for example, incomprehensible words, frightening sounds, whispers, breathing, shouts, etc.); the presence of real animals that make natural sounds on the theatre stage; cars are used as sculptural objects with symbolic meaning.
 Keywords: Romeo Castellucci, theatre direction, "destructive theatre", aesthetics, theatre code, European theatre.

ჰუბრისის მოტივი კომპარატივისტულ ჭრილში (ანგლოსაქსური „ბეოვულფისა“ და ქართული „ამირანიანის“ მიხედვით)

Despite its diversity and rich tradition, the epic genre is less represented in the Georgian folklore. In Georgian folklore, there is no evidence of a historical epic, there is no clearly defined historical or pseudo-historical hero. In Georgian folklore Amirani belongs to the genre of tragic epic, where the drama of the rise and fall of a man is told by means of heroic-adventure and mythological motifs. Despite the fact that Amiranian is often discussed in relation to the myth of Prometheus, it has much more in common with Greek classical drama than with the myth of Prometheus. "Amiranian", like Greek drama, is built on hubris (Z. Kiknadze 2011). The present article discusses the motif of hubris in a comparative perspective according to the Anglo-Saxon “Beowulf” and the Georgian “Amiraniani”.Every character in epics has his own fate which, however, can be similar to another hero’s fate. He may gain reputation, win or lose, and at last he may fall and die because of hybris. Hybris is the condition which tests the hero and pushes him towards such situations where his heroism is challenged; if he passes successfully through all obstacles, he is a real hero, but if not, he falls and dies. Hybris is indeed some kind of challenge for the hero, and not all heroes can cope with it. It is like a test case on which it depends on how well a hero can face all challenges.The heroic adventures of Beowulf and Amiran belong to different cultures, but both of them were finally formed in the Christian epoch and have many motifs and elements in common. The path of both heroes begins with doing a good deed. They help people and free them from a hard life by protecting them from demonic creatures. However, at some point their strength becomes fatal for them. Step by step, Amiran’s strength loses its meaning. In the beginning, there was no living soul that could defeat him until his tempestuous nature woke up and his desire to fight his own godfather chained him forever to a rock. Beowolf’s goal is to help others. It seems that his only purpose on earth is to live for the sake of others, but when he starts boasting to Unferth about his heroic actions, his fall begins: even though Beowulf can look back on a lot of victories, this will surely bring him to an inevitable defeat. Both heroes have the opportunity to change themselves, but none of them takes this chance. They cannot avoid arrogance, pride and haughtiness. Life gives them hints and lessons that should be a reason of their awakening, but pride has such an impact on these characters that none of them turns out of his way. The godfather provides Amiran with three opportunities to contemplate and come to his senses: in the castle, Hrothgar exhorts Beowulf to avoid a path that is full of glory and wealth because it might end up fatally. Amiran and Beowulf have the opportunity to make a different choice, but one of them wants infinite power and the other is passionate about secret treasures. Both characters ultimately sacrifice themselves to these pursuits in the end. Their ways are the same because hybris always leads to an end. Chart:Common steps in Amiran's and Beowulf's paths: Common features and characteristics of Beowulf and Amiran: Indications of hybris and death due to hybris:

한중 고전 소재 드라마 OST의 조식 활용에 나타난 음악적 특징 비교분석 연구

The purpose of this paper is to understand the musical features in the use of modes in Korean and Chinese classical drama OSTs, with the intention of providing assistance to music creators who wish to produce OSTs for classical dramas. To achieve this, we explore the overall musical flow of classical drama OSTs, focusing on the analysis of the main insert songs' thematic melodies. In order to grasp the commonalities and differences, we analyze the thematic melodies of key insert songs, covering the period from 2020 to 2023, selecting the top 12 OST songs from dramas that entered the top 3 viewership rankings in Korea and China. As a result, commonalities and differences in the musical characteristics of OSTs from classical dramas in Korea and China were identified. It is hoped that this will contribute to exploring ways to utilize classical drama OST production and serve as valuable information and foundational material for the development of drama music genres.

The role of the Praenotamenta of Jodocus Badius Ascensius in shaping early modern dramatic criticism

AbstractThis article examines the profound and enduring legacy of the treatise on classical drama known as Praenotamenta ascensiana in shaping early modern dramatic poetics. Written by Flemish scholar Jodocus Badius Ascensius (1462–1535) as a preface to his 1502 edition of the Classical plays of Terence, this work has been unjustly overlooked by the critics that have invariably credited Aristotle’s Poetics for foregrounding the debate on early modern dramatic criticism, following Alessandro de Pazzi’s first Latin translation (1536) and Francesco Robortello’s monumental commentary (1548). The purpose of Praenotamenta was to provide educators, students and playwrights with a concise and accessible compendium of ancient dramatic poetics. This treatise circulated widely across Europe and helped disseminate ideas that became central to early modern discourse on poetics, such as verisimilitude and decorum, as well as discussion on the didactic and civic role of poetry. Blended with Aristotelian doctrine, these concepts became the tenets of late sixteenth‐century poetics treatises in England, France, Italy and Spain.

Poetics of Socio-Psychological Struggle of the Tragedies of W. Shakespeare and M. Auezov

The article considers the history of outstanding works of classical drama in the history of world word art in the framework of the poetics of tragedy in the plays of W. Shakespeare "Antony and Cleopatra", M. Auezov "Enlik-Kebek". In the story-compositional line of the plays the stable social nature of the tragic conflicts, the fundamental nature of the heroes, the text analysis of the individual tasks of the characters was carried out.In the plays, scientific conclusions are drawn about the contradictions between historical figures and members of their social environment in accordance with the laws of the philosophy of life. W. Shakespeare's tragedies" Antony and Cleopatra", M. Auezov's" Enlik-Kebek " are consistently focused on the reality of feelings of love with each other, the the nature of contradictions caused by incompatibility with the household environment, the views of representatives of different social environment, dialogues, monologues in plays, etc. It is consistent with the texts of the plays that the injustice is finally revealed through the monologues of the main characters, and that the virtues flourish with the character of universal humanism. In the research, scientific-theoretical and methodological substantiations of basic research devoted to the poetics of tragedy were harmoniously used.

Klasyczno-nieklasyczny dramat Kaspra Brüloviusa o Juliuszu Cezarze

The article deals with the structure of the Latin tragedy Julius Caesar by Caspar Brülovius, a Pomeranian playwright associated with the Academy in Strasbourg. The text was published in 1616, has as many as 2580 verses and shows historical events that took place over the years: from 46 B.C., when Caesar triumphed, to 30 B.C., when the naval battle of Actium ended. One can get the impression that Brülovius carefully planned the original construction of his work: Acts II and III constitute the actual tragedy about Caesar, probably the closest to ancient plays, with a homogeneous, compact action and one main character. This part of the drama could exist on its own (without the other acts). Act I presents Caesar’s achievements (the conquest of Gaul) and is primarily aimed at educating Strasbourg students. The remaining acts (IV, V) not only pursue didactic goals, but also satisfy the tastes of the audience of the time, who probably liked the strings of death and horrors shown directly on the stage and the interweaving of comic elements with real tragedy. As a whole, Brülovius’ work is a non-classical drama, but Acts II and III, considered as a separate whole, constitute a classical drama.

A game of hide and seek. Dramatic Mechanisms in Chekhov's «The Seagull»

The analysis of the play "The Seagull" undertaken in the article is based on an unusual assumption. Chekhov's phrase is known that "after writing a story, you should cross out its beginning and end." What if we apply this "formula" to the dramatic works of Anton Pavlovich and assume that when finishing the plays, Chekhov "left out some part of the text"? The analysis of the "Seagull" is performed directly by the classic tool of directors – the method of effective analysis. The work involved a wide range of facts about the social and everyday realities of the Russian Empire of the late XIX - early XX century. The choice of the play "The Seagull" is due to two reasons. Firstly, it is one of Chekhov's most famous and popular dramas. Interest in it has not waned for many decades, neither the audience nor the directors. Secondly, it is believed that the "Seagull" is read inside and out, and working with it is a challenge for the researcher. The analysis of "The Seagull" allows us to state that Chekhov's formula about "crossing out the beginning and the end" of the story is also applicable to his plays. Moreover, this "crossing out" is made taking into account the principles of classical drama. As a result, the reader is faced with the fact that the "Seagull" can be read in at least two – almost opposite in meaning – ways. The results obtained during the analysis, firstly, give grounds to assume that the case of the "Seagull" is not an isolated one, and Chekhov resorted to similar techniques in his other dramas. Secondly, to conclude that the "dramatic mechanism" of The Seagull is not just an attribute of the author's voice, but actually the path of evolution of classical drama proposed by Chekhov.

Play, Defiance and Imagination As Forms Of Knowledge Production : Examining Bidesiya As Folk Theatre and Its Pedagogical Implications in Classrooms Of Literature

India houses a number of folk theatrical forms that are simple and closer to the rural milieu. After the decline of Sanskrit classical drama in India, from the 14th to the 19th century, folk theatre emerged in myriads of rural languages. These theatrical forms can be categorised under two broad genres, viz., "Ritual Theatre" that was religious in nature, and the "Theatre of Entertainment," which was more secular in mood. One such example of the secular form is Bidesiya, the dynamic and popular theatre of Bihar. Bidesiya, like the name suggests, revolves around the "bides" / "pardes," i. e., foreign land / homeland dichotomy. Bidesiya emerged and was given shape by Bhikhari Thakur, the highly-acclaimed poet, playwright, and actor, and aimed at disseminating some kind of social message through the plays. Bidesiya also makes use of a plethora of folk songs that are rooted in Bihar's soil, and these plays were primarily performed by actors belonging to lower-caste communities. The most crucial aspect of Bidesiya is that this folk theatrical form is fundamentally radical and fluid in terms of how it deals with gender. Bidesiya showcases Launda naach — or the dance native to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar that is performed by female impersonators — as a powerful theatrical technique. The present paper seeks to scrutinise Bidesiya as a gender-fluid folk theatrical form of India, and further explores the manner in which Bidesiya problematises the essentialist notion of fixed gender identity. The paper, therefore, begins with an elaborate discussion on the origin of Bidesiya, and moves on to study its various aspects, including the structure of the plays and the performers' troupes, the "men's" and "women's" folk songs which are associated with the genre, and the underpinnings of the staged performances. The paper then investigates the obfuscation of gender by the actors, visible in Launda Naach — the central element of Bidesiya plays — and the presentation of the songs, written from feminine perspective, by men. The concluding section of the paper highlights the pedagogical implications of Bidesiya and its relevance in classrooms, with a special emphasis on how gender is revealed as performative in the plays. Introducing Bidesiya in classroom education resists didacticism by promoting hands-on learning, creates a space for the students to locate themselves within the broad spectrum of gender identities, and also indulges imaginative voyages, as this paper will show.

고전극 교육 제재로서 우희의 의의와 교육 방안

Objectives The purpose of this study is to analyze the current status of classical drama education in literature education and to clarify the significance of U-hui as a subject of classical drama education.
 Methods To this end, the content related to theater history presented as educational content in the literature curriculum was examined diachronically. In addition, the educational content related to theater history covered in current literature textbooks was analyzed by dividing them into explanatory materials, work materials, and learning activities in the textbook history section. Based on the structure of the revised educational goal classification system, a method for generating knowledge according to the development of the learner's cognitive process was presented.
 Results The influence of the syllabus and the period of the 4th curriculum on classical theater education leads to fixed knowledge, and in textbooks, academic discourse on theater history in the past is reproduced or knowledge that has formed an issue is avoided. Accordingly, the content of education was organized around the theater and commoners in the late Joseon Dynasty.
 Conclusions In order to solve this problem, the current academic discourse related to Woohee should be included, and the cognitive process in which learners evaluate knowledge and create new knowledge should be used as an educational method. Taking U-hui as a subject of classical drama education enables a change from the educational content centered on the common people in the late Joseon Dynasty to encompassing various eras and enjoyment classes. In addition, the change in teaching and learning methods that utilize research historical issues has significance in helping learners maintain an open attitude toward knowledge of the history of literature.

Lope de Vega. Lo fingido verdadero

Lope de Vega. <i>Lo fingido verdadero</i>

Editor’s Foreword

The iconoclastic tendency in literary studies demands much of academic journals, particularly single-author journals devoted to the white, male heterosexuals. But the challenges at issue are mostly obvious and not all that hard to meet, at least with respect to Eugene O’Neill in the third decade of the present century. We have in O’Neill both a playwright of undeniable genius and a person whose life-long crawl between earth and heaven scratched and muddied him. His wounds (e.g., illness and trauma) are pitiable; his defilements (e.g., flickering anti-Semitism and racism, spousal abuse) are not. And we find in our own “moment”—so brutal, so stupid in so many ways—a diversified intellectual population impatient with hagiography and quick to call out moral vulgarity but not necessarily insensitive to genius.Happily, the Eugene O’Neill Review has never gone in for hagiography and the various “vulgarities” it entails: O’Neill is an inapt candidate for sainthood, and the journal has never been edited by a simpleton. Furthermore, O’Neill turns out to be a hard fella to cancel, as though the inapplicability of “icon” balked “clastic.” Readers of Patrick Chura’s essay on Shirley Graham’s Federal Theatre Project’s “Negro adaptation” of The Hairy Ape will likely appreciate Graham’s fascination with the transracial resonances of that play, even as they regret O’Neill’s ugly dismissal of the FTP’s proposed production. Chura criticizes O’Neill sharply and well, but he recognizes the disservice a pummeling would do to Graham’s engagement with O’Neill’s art. Her adaptation, he concludes, “does not detract from, and may well enhance, appreciation of O’Neill’s accomplishments.”One might say the same of Adrienne Earle Pender’s Emperor Jones reconfiguration, N, a fuller adaptation than Graham’s but a similarly provocative “Blackening” of O’Neill’s work. Would O’Neill have thought as poorly of N as he did of Graham’s Hairy Ape? I suspect not, because Graham wanted to reproduce great chunks of O’Neill’s script, and Pender did not. But we don’t need to care. O’Neill is gone. We’re here, richer for the efforts of Graham and Pender and—selectively to contextualize—racially imaginative adaptors of classical drama like Luis Alfaro, Marina Carr, Yaël Farber, and Charles Mee.We do know what Ronald E. Quirk thinks of N, or at least of a recent production: a big “thumbs up.” His review leads off a fine quintet, filled out by commentary on productions of Susan Glaspell’s Bernice (Ash Marinaccio), Neith Boyce’s The Sea Lady (Christen Mandracchia), and O’Neill’s A Touch of the Poet (James Armstrong) and Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Catherine Young).And we know what Pender thinks of Mourning Becomes Electra. Her contribution to the Practitioners’ Colloquium reimagines that juggernaut as a telenovela. Skeptical? Hear her out: it’s a fascinating, viable idea, like the other proposals in this generally celebratory grouping. Odawa playwright Alanis King also tackles Mourning Becomes Electra. Critics often lament O’Neill’s wordy stage directions there as elsewhere, but the practitioner King sees it differently: “I don’t know another playwright who can set up a scene with such expansive detail before a line is uttered.” Her piece incorporates O’Neill’s play into her own life, as does the offering by actress and director Annabel Capper, a warm but forceful case for an unabridged Strange Interlude that would excavate that play’s feminist moorings. Alex Roe adds an analysis of The Great God Brown that, I hope, will serve as a template for a production at his Metropolitan Playhouse. Few commentators have addressed Brown’s “mask problem” more helpfully.William Davies King has been making O’Neill a part of his life for a long time. His current essay—on (stage?) whisperings of Gorki’s The Lower Depth in O’Neill’s work—builds elegantly from an exercise in comparative portraiture to a full-blown reassessment of influence and effect throughout O’Neill’s career. Rigor and range are never out of season.This iteration of the Lost & Found section “goes postal.” James H. Cox discusses a disarmingly fanboyish postcard that the Cherokee playwright Lynn Riggs sent to Barrett Clark in 1928 after seeing O’Neill exit a patisserie in Biarritz. Next, Michele Slung unpacks a somewhat mysterious postcard to her uncle, O’Neill’s biographer Louis Sheaffer. Her skill in building a story testifies to her experience as a widely published journalist and miscellaneous writer. Like last issue’s collection of letters from Kyra Markham to Sheaffer, Slung’s entry brings us closer to a quiet man whose dedication to O’Neill’s legacy, and skill in preserving it, cannot be overstated.Brice Ezell and Steven F. Bloom round out the issue with frank appraisals of new books by Jeremy Killian and Max Schulman, respectively. I continue to appreciate the consistency with which subeditors Zander Brietzke (books) and Bess Rowen (performances) assemble reviews unsullied by either clubbish piffle or immodest fury, coyly to recall “vulgarities.”For the n[in]th time, readers, I thank you for your indulgence and support.

A brief analysis of the breakthrough and innovation of directing art in the 2000 version of drama Sunrise

Cao Yu's classic trilogy "Thunderstorm", "Sunrise" and "The Wilderness" have always been classic dramas rehearsed and performed by theaters in big cities and drama clubs of colleges and universities, and how to deeply interpret and interpret the classics, how to further excavate deeper cultural and philosophical connotations, and how to conform to the spirit of the times in the current society, these have become the focus and starting point of drama writing, directing and acting in the new era. In 2000, the Beijing People's Art Theater appointed director Ren Ming to rearrange the drama "Sunrise", and this article interprets this version. The modern version of "Sunrise" is a bold breakthrough and innovation in the style of the classic version of "Sunrise", through the re-direction and rearrangement of the play, it skillfully breaks through the thinking pattern of stage imagery, and innovatively integrates traditional and modern elements, giving "Sunrise" a new artistic posture, deepening the connotation interpretation of "Sunrise" in the current era, and narrowing the distance with the audience.

Sources of “Dibuk”: from Ethnographic Expeditions to the “Thunderstorm” by A.N. Ostrovskiy

“Dybbuk”, the masterpiece of Jewish dramaturgy, became the synthesis of the wide range of impulses from Jewish folklore to Russian classical drama. S. A. An-sky organized in 1912–1914 famous Jewish folklore and ethnographic expeditions to the shtels in the Pale of Settlement. The main results of the expeditions were “Dybbuk” as well as the ethnographic and local history programs. The paper is devoted to the emergence of S. A. An-sky’s play under the influence of his expeditions and ethnographic programs. The close substantial and structural interrelation of the play and the ethnographic programs of An-sky is shown. The influence of the Ethnographic Bureau of Prince V. Tenishev on the An-sky programs and his collecting work is investigated. The famous play “Thunderstorm” written by A. N. Ostrovsky was also the result of the ethnographic expedition as well as “Dibbuk”. It had also significantly influenced on “Dibbuk”.

The Trojan Women: A Comic

What is right with this “comic” of Euripides's timeless and irreplaceable drama, The Trojan Women, is what was always right about a play that is relentlessly relevant. Carson's translation, spare and clear, distills the language of the original but keeps what is important, including some mouth-puckeringly wry lines. There is barbed wit and heartbreaking lullaby, sometimes coinciding on one page. Thus, the chorus comments, “Troy, you made a bad deal: / ten thousand men for a single coracle of cunt appeal.” In the middle of the same page, the Greek herald Talthybius addresses Hector and Andromache's infant son Astyanax, whom he has come to carry off so that the baby can be thrown from the battlements: “Come along, little mushroom, / little rootlet, little sip, little milk fly, little asterisk, little welkin, / little silhouette, little sugar bubble—/ let go of your mother. / She's broken.” Then lower down on the same page: “It's time for your infinite leap / as decreed by the vote of men. / Take him. / The man to transact things like this / is one who doesn't know pity.”What is wrong with this new rendering is Bruno's awkward, amateurish drawings. Yes, the chorus are all animals, as are all the main characters except mad Cassandra (a partial exception might be made for Menelaus, who is some kind of machine); but Bruno is no Art Spiegelman, and this is no Maus. Spiegelman's cats, pigs, and mice make perfect sense and are elegantly and clearly depicted; they add resonance to the story without raising further questions. In this Trojan Women, it makes sense that Hecuba is an old bitch or Helen a svelte fox in high heels. Poseidon, a wave: okay. But Talthybius, a colossal raven? Athena, “a big pair of overalls, carrying an owl mask in one hand”? Andromache, “a poplar tree with trunk split and roots dragging out the back of the cart”? The infant Astyanax whom Andromache cradles in one Ent-like arm looks more like a cocoon or a hornet's nest or a hypertrophied oak gall than anything else. Menelaus, when he arrives, is “some sort of gear box, clutch or coupling mechanism, once sleek, not this year's model.” These surreal leaps might well work on the stage or screen, but the need to explain them in the text shows how uncomfortably they fit into the story. Carson's explanations, of course, constitute her only significant departures from Euripides.We do not need Bruno's drawings; Carson's pared-down text might work quite well on its own. But even grant the hypothetical that these drawings are an organic and crucial part of this version's vision, then the drawings should not need to be explained. Less would be more. What this version of the classic drama gains in succinctness it loses in tonal clarity—having said which, I would still like to try it out on my students, who might help me to change my mind. Does this retelling of the story remain heartrending and cruel, suffused with irony, sharpened by flashes of wit? Yes. Was it worth the experiment of turning the tragedy into a comic? Sure. Is this uneasy mix of verbal mastery and wobbly draftsmanship the ultimate version of The Trojan Women? Nope.