Teaching Orestes through Performance

This article presents the results of an experiment in performance pedagogy for teaching Euripides' Orestes in an intensive two-week summer seminar in Selianitika, Greece in August, 2018. This pedagogical method is shown to have particular benefits for two areas of student learning: first, a deeper understanding of dramatic structure, in particular the role of music and dance; and, second, the complexity of character and its interpretation in Greek tragedy. The analysis draws on and quotes from written reflections from the creative team and the students who performed Orestes.