This book does not aim to be an archeological survey of any particular theater; it is concerned with the general characteristics of fifth-century production such as the playing space available and the nature of the permanent decoration.

Peter Arnott discusses Greek drama not as an antiquarian study but as a living art form. He removes the plays from the library and places them firmly in the theatre that gave them being. Invoking the practical realities of stagecraft, he illuminates the literary patterns of the plays, the performance disciplines, and the audience responses.
Each component of the productions - audience, chorus, actors, costume, speech - is examined in the context of its own society and of theatre practice in general, with examples from other cultures. Professor Arnott places great emphasis on the practical staging of Greek plays, and how the buildings themselves imposed particular constraints on actors and writers alike. Above all, he sets out to make practical sense of the construction of Greek plays, and their organic relationship to their original setting.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203129407

Peter Arnott discusses Greek drama not as an antiquarian study but as a living art form. He removes the plays from the library and places them firmly in the theatre that gave them being. Invoking the practical realities of stagecraft, he illuminates the literary patterns of the plays, the performance disciplines, and the audience responses. Each component of the productions - audience, chorus, actors, costume, speech - is examined in the context of its own society and of theatre practice in general, with examples from other cultures. Professor Arnott places great emphasis on the practical staging of Greek plays, and how the buildings themselves imposed particular constraints on actors and writers alike. Above all, he sets out to make practical sense of the construction of Greek plays, and their organic relationship to their original setting.

Published in the new Methuen Classical Dramatists series Euripides' searching, poetic voice probes the waste and suffering of war in these plays which are set wake of the Trojan defeat to reflect the playwright's changing attitude to the real war between Athens and Sparta in his own day - 4th century BC. Hecuba is a play of ghosts and shadowy death; The Women of Troy is a searing indictment of the aftermath of defeat; Iphigenia at Aulis shows a human tragedy at the heart of the mechanics of war; and Cyclops is a satyr play which offers a comic antidote to the tragedies.With an introduction by J. Michael Walton