Reaching Athens: Community, Democracy and Other Mythologies in Adaptations of Greek Tragedy

by Margherita Laera

Why do revivals and adaptations of Greek tragedy still abound in European national theatres, fringe stages and international festivals in the twenty-first century? Taking as its starting point the concepts of myth developed by Jean-Luc Nancy and Roland Barthes and the notion of the ‘classical’ outlined by Salvatore Settis, this book analyses discourses around community, democracy, origin and Western identity in stage adaptations of Greek tragedy on contemporary European stages. The author addresses the ways in which the theatre produces and perpetuates the myth of ‘classical’ Greece as the origin of Europe and how this narrative raises issues concerning the possibility of a transnational European community. Each chapter explores a pivotal problem in modern appropriations of Greek tragedy, including the performance of the chorus, the concept of the ‘obscene’ and the audience as the demos of democracy. Modern versions of Women of Troy , Hippolytus and Persians performed in Britain, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, Poland and Greece are analysed through a series of comparative case studies. By engaging with the work of prominent theatre-makers such as Mark Ravenhill, Michel Vinaver, Katie Mitchell, Sarah Kane, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Romeo Castellucci, Calixto Bieito and Rimini Protokoll, this volume offers a critique of contemporary democratic Europe and the way it represents itself onstage.

319 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Phillip · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I like most about Laera's argument is that it takes on a lot of presumptions, assumptions, beliefs, and myths about ancient Athenian culture. Laera attempts to present these myths (a term of which she is appropriately fond) as historically contingent and based in contemporary understandings of classical culture, which function ideologically within our current moment. She argues that some of the most prominent claims about Greek tragedy are in fact reflections of contemporary ideologies (liberal democratic, Christian, capitalist, etc) rather than objective understandings of Hellenic culture based on the evidence available to us. Further, she argues that contemporary performances of Greek tragedy tend to reinforce these cultural myths because the performance styles are influenced by our perception of Greek culture.

My main critique with this book is how alternative readings are dealt with. There are several places in which contentious issues are brought up and opposed views are summarily dismissed. To a certain extent this is a rhetorical/stylistic issue. But, for instance, Laera simply dismisses Edith Hall's widely accepted argument that Greek tragedy has been so frequently adapted in the 20th and 21st centuries because modern dramatists find thematic, cultural, and political resonances with contemporary problems (41). Laera says that this is simply a surface level reading (an assessment with which I would profoundly disagree), and moves on. I think Laera's larger argument is correct, that contemporary dramatists turn to Greek tragedy in the service of promoting democratic aspirations/ideologies and as a reflection of a neoliberal zeitgeist, but these two premises aren't mutually exclusive. There can be both a widespread cultural interest in (a nostalgiac view of) the Greeks and thematic resonances that allow contemporary authors to deal in unique and critical ways with contemporary problems.