Theatre in Ancient Greek Society by J.R. Green, and: Monuments Illustrating New Comedy by T.B.L. Webster (review)

BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS and this book is highly recommended to anyone with an interest in Old Comedy and the civilisation which produced it, 01' in women's history and the study of gender in the ancient world. JOHN WHITEHORNE THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND BRlSBANE QLD 4072 J.R. GREEN. Theatre in Ancient Creek Society. London/New York: Routledge, 1994. Pp. xxii + 234. US $49.95. Can $62.95· ISBN: 0-415-04751 (cloth), 0-415-14359-4 (paper. 1996). T.B.L. WEBSTER. Monuments Illustrating New Comedy. third edition. revised and enlarged by J.R. Green and A. Seeberg. Bulletin oi the Institute oiClassical Studies. Supplement 50,2 volumes. London: Institute of Classical Studies. 1995. Volume I: pp. xvi + 264 + 59 plates; Volume 2: pp. x + 515. Volumes 1-2 ISBN 0-900587-76-8; Volume I ISBN 0-90058773 -3; Volume 2 ISBN 0-900587-74-1. What is the relationship between Creek theatre and the society for which it was performed? This difficult question is confronted boldly by J.R. Green in Theatre in Ancient Greek Society (hereafter TAGS) and in his revision with Axel Seeberg of Webster's Monuments Illustrating New Comedy (hereafter MNC3). The results are impressive and chaHenging. Green focusses his discussion in TAGS on archaeological remains that depict. 01' seem to depict, theatrical scenes and motifs. By so doing, he is able to leave the theatron and discover what role the theatrical played in society at large. There is a false exclusivity in his aim ("1 am ... attempting to discover something of the audience's view of the theatre and the reader can ... contrast it with the view of the literary scholar which has the text as its central focus," TAGS xii), but the results are rich and can helpfully complement and corroborate literary work (as is demonstrated in the "Note on the Relative Popularity of Masks." lvfNC3 vol. I, 77-83. and "Illustrations of Plays," MNC3 vol. I, 85-98). The six chapters of TAGS outline an historical development spanning a thousand years, and Green's engaging argument teases the reader along from a summary of theatre as inteHectual property (ably summarizing the oral/literate tension in the fifth century and the high incidence of festival participation by the public) to the Christian response to theatre as seen in Lactantius. The discussion is weH illustrated with photographs of over 75 artefacts and many BOOK REVIEWS/COMPTES RENDUS 179 statistical graphs (see below). As with any survey. claims are made that are not supported fully. which could lead to a false sense of assuredness among undergraduates on many unsettled matters; there is an assumed familiarity with the material (marked by too many objects being labelled "well-known"). and bibliography tends to emphasize 1ess familiar works to the exclusion of important starting points. Admittedly. to make matters clear for all would require a great expansion of the notes. and. really. Green seems to be targeting professionals . for whom this is an inviting book that should be read and incarporated into literary scholarship. Two themes in particular are developed through TACSs narrative. First. artistic representation indicates a continued (Green would say growing) sophistication of the audience: the intellectual response to theatrical presentation is at least as important as the emotional one. Notions of naturalism. realism. and dramatic illusion are all addressed both as staged realities and in terms of their effect on the archaeological record. Were Green to consider written texts. recent discussions of intertextuality in the Athenian playwrights could easily carroborate the claims made here. So. for example. an interesting discussion of Sophocles' Andromeda in art (20-23) is diminished by a slighter comparison with Euripides' play of that name. whose intellectual appeal and success is demonstrated by Aristophanic parody (cf. 66. 187-88 n. 49). Chapter 2 ("The Early Period and the Fifth Century: The Visual Evidence." 16-48) discusses the conventions of artistic representation while outlining the development of each dramatic genre. At times. Green oversteps the evidence. covering himself with generalizations or conditionals: early satyr plays were apparently "more vigorous" (44) than the "more respectab1e" (47) later ones. but without surer evidence the change need not be a literary development (the...