DIDASKALIA

PERFORMANCE-BASED RESEARCH INTO GREEK DRAMA; WHAT ARE ITS LIMITATIONS?

Michael Ewans
Associate Professor of Drama and Music
University of Newcastle
Australia

It is now generally accepted that research into classical drama must respect the fact that the surviving texts were originally created as scripts for performance, and in the last twenty years the implications of this fact have been fruitfully explored in a number of ways.This paper will explore the strengths and the limitations of some currently applied methodologies, with particular reference to David Wiles' Tragedy at Athens and to some of the specific issues and problems encountered by the presenter and his colleagues (Graham Ley and Greg McCart) in the complete Everyman Classics Aeschylus and Sophocles volumes.

Michael Ewans
University of Newcastle

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