While examining the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides I was very interested in the different ways in which theatrical companies chose to portray each show.
The show starring Alan Cummings as Dionysus first caught my attention because the star was an actor whom I was able to recognize and because he was practically naked in every picture. From pictures of the production of The Bacchae by Euripides it looks like the show may have been more about being showy then about being true to the original.
Many of the other productions also decided to take the original scripts and put a new and/or modern twist on the classic Greek tragedies. In The Children of Herakles by the American Repetory Theatre the characters appear completely modern. The man is wearing camouflage pants and the little girl a more modern dress. They appear to be acting in the larger than life manner of Greek Tragedies but the costumes don’t seem to fit the acting.
In Aeschylus’ The Persians by the Shakespeare Theatre Company also chose to go with a military theme. Many of the other photos I came across for all three of the extant writers’ works had a military theme to it. It appears that many other directors have taken their productions in a similar direction. The idea of war and fighting and military tend to relate more with today’s society rather than togas and urns. I think this military reach helps bring others into the audience.
The Theatre of the Lost Continent’s production of The Trojan Woman was done by an all male cast. The various pictures of the production made it hard to tell that some of the men were in fact men. The all male cast is true to the original Greek productions were all roles were played by males, including the female roles, and no females were permitted on the stage. I found some of the pictures disturbing. The one I chose for the website looks like the girl from The Exorcist whose head spun around. Most of the pictures looked just like that one and made the idea of seeing the show unthinkable. There was also a photo of a male complete full frontal nudity. The nudity I think distracted from the whole of the production pictures. It drew focus and became the focus.
While searching the internet for production photos of Greek Tragedies I found a lot of productions done by choirs, orchestras, and many, many dance companies. I found it interesting that the Greek tragedies of the extant writers are able to transcend art forms. I also found many people who had written poems or even created actual artworks of the different tragedies.
Some directors like Keith Scales appeared over and over again in my search. Some directors tend to favor this genre of theatrical productions. Most tend to avoid but others flock to it. These directors have done lots of research and many try to stay true to original scripts and to perform them as accurately as possible. After viewing many different versions of the same productions I feel like the shows that stay true to the time period draw my attention more so than the new and modern versions, but what can I say, It’s all Greek to Me!
