Preface

Preface This volume offers a selection of papers presented at the conference, “Crossing the Stages: The Production, Performance and Reception of Ancient Theater,” held in Saskatoon in October of 1997. As the conference title suggests, the goal was to bring together individuals representing different approaches to the ancient stage: theater history, philology, modern production, pedagogy, literary criticism, feminism, reception, iconography, the study of theater and society (modern as well as ancient), the application of electronic technology)… the list goes on. Most of the forty-one presenters wore more than one of the above hats, but all shared a common malaise with the relative isolation in which many of us operate. Although it has been over twenty years since the publication of Oliver Taplin’s Stagecraft in Aeschylus, engagement with the works of the ancient dramatists as performance is still generally confined to marginal specialized studies. Philologists are not well versed in the realities of performance, as a rule—particularly masked performance—and often have only a limited familiarity with the latest work on the archeology of the ancient stage, especially in the rapidly developing study of iconography. And, while communication between stage and audience has assumed a more prominent position in the general scholarly consciousness, a guarded mistrust of performance criticism persists (e.g., Simon Goldhill, “Reading Performance Criticism,” vi Syllecta Classica 10 (1999) G&R 36 [1989] 172–82). As a result of these and other factors, it is still possible to surprise and delight even experts in the field when demonstrating just how good the works of Menander, Terence, and—yes—even Euripides and Plautus can be when performed on stage, and to suggest nuances that remained hidden on the page. On the other hand, those involved in modern reproductions of the plays often choose to disregard or radically reinterpret the cues of the original texts for a variety of reasons: practical limitations (the all too common inadequacies of financing, space, time, or—particularly in the case of student performances—the number or abilities of the actors); the need to accommodate the tastes of a modern audience; the use of translations (which imposes its own peculiar limitations); the desire to tease out new implications from these ancient works. In the end, the line that separates reinterpretation from misappropriation or mere distortion can often seem quite thin, and is in any case notoriously difficult to locate. Moreover, modern producers themselves present a divided community: school productions staged under the guidance of classical scholars generally see little input from colleagues in departments of drama, while more professional productions often seem to make but limited use of a classics “resource person.” More enduring forms of collaboration between those familiar with the ancient texts and those who understand the dynamics of the modern stage are relatively rare. At the same time, most of us have only a cursory acquaintance with the modern tradition of reproduction and adaptation. The works of Plautus, Terence, and the tragedians, in particular, have a rich history of reinterpretation that stretches back to the fifteenth century and includes, not only dramatic reproductions and adaptations in a variety of styles, but masque, spectacle, opera, puppet show, and film. Precise information about such performances can be difficult to obtain, however, and often fails to rise above the level of the colorful anecdote; even in the case of more recent productions, such material is frequently the possession of a privileged few—those, for example, who happen to have access to videotaped recordings (often pirated) or were fortunate enough to attend an actual performance. The interpretation of such productions presents still another challenge, since it often entails knowledge of languages, Preface vii cultures, dramatic traditions, and/or media in which many traditional classicists possess no special competency. Finally, although an increasing number of scholars now make some use of computer technology in their work, the exact potential and (just as important) limitations of such resources remain uncertain to many. The Saskatoon conference provided an opportunity for the sharing of such varied interests, experiences, and areas of expertise. The selection of studies presented here focuses on three areas of specific interest, with a particular emphasis on matters of performance and on the...