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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE

GREEK THEATRE

AN INTRODUCTION

TO THE

GREEK THEATRE

BY

PETER D. ARNOTT, M.A., PH.D.

WITH A FOREWORD BY

H. D. F. KITTO

© Peter D. Amott 1959

All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission.

No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WIP 9HE.

Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages.

First published 1959 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 2XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world

ISBN 978-0-333-07913-3 ISBN 978-1-349-00529-1 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-00529-1

FOR EVA

FOREWORD BY

H. D. F. KITTO

THIS is a book that can be warmly commended to those who read Greek plays, whether in the original or in translation. There is no scarcity of books on

Greek drama, and books on the Greek theatre are not hard to come by ; but the field was wide open for a book like this, written by one who is equally at home in Classical scholarship and in the actual theatre. It gives the reader of the plays just what he needs, and what he will not easily find elsewhere. Indeed, my one complaint is that it was not available when I myself began reading the plays ; it would have saved me much confusion.

For Greek plays, at first, are not easy. Translation may- at a cost which Mr. Amott fairly assesses- relieve the reader from the burden of grappling with the Greek language, but the language is by no means the only diffi­culty. I well remember how Greek drama was first presented to me, by teachers and commentators : every­thing was so negative. Thus, the Greek dramatist was under the strange restriction, never convincingly explained, of being allowed to use only three actors ; he had no curtain, and therefore could not change either the scene or the time of the action ; tradition dictated to him a stiff form of dialogue, and insisted that he should use a chorus ; further, by tradition he was not. allowed to

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GREEK THEATRE

invent his own plots, but had to use myth, so that his audience knew the outline of the story already. It all gave the impression that since there was so much that the Greek dramatist could not do, it was surprising that he did anything at all.

This was the result of starting with our modern theatre in mind. There is a natural inclination to think of our own theatre, and the drama written for it, as the 'natural' form, and of other forms as being deviations from it, or imperfect approximations to it. Mr. Arnott's first chapter firmly draws the distinction between drama based on convention and drama - our own - based on illusion. Doing this, he puts the reader on the right path from the beginning.

In writing this book Mr. Arnott has enjoyed enviable advantages, and has made full use of them. He is a Classical scholar who has had much experience of Greek plays in the theatre, as actor, as producer, as translator. One may suspect too - though he says nothing about it in these pages - that he has learned much from his own interesting and impressive performances of Greek tragedies and comedies with puppets, in a scale-model of the theatre in Athens. Certainly the writer of this Foreword has learned much from them. For example: the Theatre of Dionysus, in the second part of the fifth century, had an architectural background, suitable enough when the action of a play was supposed to take place before a temple or a palace ; but what did the dramatist do when the imaginary scene was open country ? Some writers on the Greek theatre have supposed that somehow the architectural back-scene must have been concealed ; others have been more cautious. One of Mr. Arnott's performances

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FOREWORD

showed me that the problem does not exist. The Frogs of Aristophanes begins with a scene in which the archi­tectural background is natural and acceptable ; then the imaginary background becomes the River Styx, and a dismal waste-land beyond it. Watching Mr. Arnott's lively little figures, and listening to their comic lamenta­tions on their desperate fix, one was as indifferent to the architectural background of his small stage as to the fact that one was- just as incongruously, when you come to think of it- sitting in a comfortable chair. The poet's language took complete control ; the total absence of visual illusion stimulated rather than obstructed the spectators' imagination. One was in the Greek theatre, and any attempt to disguise the fact would have been silly. It was a complete demonstration ; the question was answered.

In so far as a book can do it, this one will do for the reader of the plays what he needs : it will take him out of our own time and place, out of our theatrical conventions, and set him down in Athens, in the Theatre of Dionysus, in the Athenian conventions, and in the Greek sunshine. Many readers of the plays, some of them quite experienced readers, will, I am sure, be grateful to him.

ix

PREFACE

EXCELLENT and inexpensive translations are rapidly bringing Greek drama to a wide new public, including many with no previous knowledge of the

Classics. At the same time many schools and universities are supplementing or superseding formal instruction in Greek and Latin by courses in classical literature in trans­lation. It is for such a public that this book has been written. It attempts to give, within a small compass, an account of the background of the plays - their origin, composition, setting and audience. Four plays, each representative of a class, have been selected for individual study. A chapter on Roman comedy has also been included, as it is only through Rome that we can appreciate the characteristics of later Greek work.

Two points must be made clear from the start. This is essentially an introduction. It hopes to fill a' place mid­way between the few pages which commonly precede texts and translations and the specialist works which the average student has neither the time nor the interest to read. So this book can only point the way ; it hopes to provide enough to make the theatrical context of the plays intelligible, but anyone desiring more must turn to the hundreds of books on special aspects of this difficult and fascinating subject.

Secondly, it must be stressed that few things about the Greek theatre are certain. As far as the design of the stage

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE GREEK THEATRE

buildings is concerned, lack of archaeological evidence for the early period forces us back on inferences from the plays themselves and other writings. So with the early history of the drama. On many points conflicting theories have arisen which may never be reconciled. I have tried to show the most important points of disagreement, but for the most part only claim to give the most probable view. The reader will be safe as long as he remembers that this may not be the correct, and is certainly not the only one.

'Drama', the Greek for 'play', means literally 'some­thing done' not 'something read'. Every attempt has been made to present the plays as products of a living theatre, written to please a keenly critical audience, and no.t as Great Literature.

This has not, unfortunately, been the criterion em­ployed by history. Only some plays survived on their merits ; others were preserved from academic interest or by accident. A great deal has been lost that would be invaluable in reconstructing the theatre of the time. But on the whole we have been lucky. The surviving plays show the Greek Theatre in all its aspects, one of the most fascinating art-forms that has ever existed.

My thanks are due to those who have helped me write this book: to Professor R. E. Wycherley for his con­sistent encouragement and for countless valuable altera­tions and corrections; to Mr. A. D. Fitton-Brown, to whose great knowledge and penetrating criticism I have been indebted throughout ; and to Miss Eva Schenkel, who has saved me from many lapses into obscurity. But most of all I must express my gratitude to the audiences for whom I have produced and performed the five plays

xii

PREFACE

selected here for special study- the only way, when all is said and done, to get to know a play. Their reactions and questions have led me to venture on this book, in the hope that it will introduce many more to the wonder of the Greek theatre.

LANCING, SussEx June 1958

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

THE author makes grateful acknowledgement to the following for permission to quote copyright material :

Messrs. George Allen & Unwin, Ltd., for the extracts from Dr. Gilbert Murray's translations of Aristophanes' Frogs and Euripides' Electra and Rhesus; Messrs. G. Bell & Sons, Ltd., for the extracts from B. B. Rogers' translation of Aristophanes' Birds ; The Bodley Head, for the extracts from Rex Warner's translations of Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound and Euripides' Medea ; The Clarendon Press, Oxford, for the extracts from Dr. Gilbert Murray's translation of Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound, and from J. E. Powell's translation of Herodotus' Histories ; Messrs. Dennis Dobson, Ltd., for the extract from New Theatres for Old, by M. Gorelik ; Messrs. Rupert Hart­Davis, Ltd., for the extract from Around Theatres, by Sir Max Beerbohm; the Editors of the Loeb Classical Library, for the extracts from A. S. Way's translation of Euripides' Cyclops and Hippolytus ; Messrs. Methuen & Co., Ltd., for the extract from Greek Tragedy, by Professor H. D. F. Kitto; Messrs. Penguin Books, Ltd., for the extracts from Aubrey de Selin­court's translation of Herodotus' Histories, and from E. F. Watling's translation of Sophocles' Electra.

xiv

CONTENTS PAGB

FOREWORD BY H. D. F. KJ:TIO vii

PREFACE X1

CHAP.

I. CONVENTION VERSUS ILLUSION I

II. THE ORIGINS AND STRUCTURE OF THE 'FLAYS IS

m. T<HE THEATRE AND ITS EQUIPMENT 32

IV. THE AunmNCE 55

v. EARLY TRAGEDY: AESCHYLUS AND THE

AGAMEMNON 63

VI. LATER TRAGEDY: EURIPIDES AND THE MEDEA 90

VII. SATYR PLAY : THE CYCLOPS II9

VIII. COMEDY : ARISTOPHANES AND THE BIRDS 133

IX. ROMAN COMEDY: PLAUTUS AND THE

MENAECHMI rs6

X. PROBLEMS OF TRANSLATION 180

XI. ANcmNT AND MoDERN 207

APPENDIX. SoME Nons ON PRoDUCTION 232

INDEX 236

XV

ILLUSTRATIONS

(between pages 48 and 49)

The Theatre of Dionysus in Athens : view from the Auditorium

The Theatre of Epidauros, before reconstruction (Photograph by John Pollard, Esq.)

The Theatre of Delphi (Photograph by Philip Lace, Esq.)

Two views of the Theatre of Sicyon, showing layout of stage buildings

(Photographs by John Pollard, Esq.)

The Theatre of Dionysus in Athens : Orchestra with Central Altar Base and Earliest Stone Foundations

The Theatre of Dionysus in Athens : Throne of the High Priest and Auditorium with Gangways

Euripides : The Bacchanals, performed at the Arts Theatre, Cambridge

(Photograph by Edward Leigh, Cambridge)

Sophocles : Oedipus at Colonus, performed in the Greek Theatre, Bradfield College

(Photograph by Kennel Studios, Reading)

xvi