Roilou, I: Performances of Ancient Greek Tragedy and Helleni

The issue of the perception of Ancient Greek tragedy in contemporary performances of the twentieth century comprises an important field of research in theatre. This book discusses twentieth-century Greek performances of tragedy between 1919 and 1967 relating their aesthetic styles to the notion of Greekness and the constitution of Greek national culture during this period. It explains the position tragedy acquired within Greek theatre using Pierre Bourdieu s model of the field of cultural production . At the same time it elaborates on the unavoidable references of these productions to the European theatrical movements from the end of the eighteenth century to the second half of the twentieth and their re-negotiation within Greek cultural terms. Although these issues have been pointed out or implied by both theorists and artists, they have not been until now systematically analysed and discussed. This book offers a thorough examination of these topics and it should be useful to everyone interested in contemporary performances of tragedy, Greek theatre,Greek culture and generally in what consists of the Greek part of European theatre history.