Greek Tragedy on the American Stage: Ancient Drama in the Commercial Theater, 1882-1994

176 Pages·1995·1.11 MB·English

by  Karelisa Hartigan

Greek Tragedy
on the American Stage
GREEK TRAGEDY ON THE
AMERICAN STAGE
Ancient Drama in the
Commercial Theater, 1882–1994
Karelisa V. Hartigan
Contributions in Drama and Theatre Studies,
Number 60
GREENWOOD PRESS
Westport, Connecticut • London
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hartigan, Karelisa.
Greek tragedy on the American stage : ancient drama in the
commercial theater, 1882–1994 / Karelisa V. Hartigan.
p. cm.—(Contributions in drama and theatre studies, ISSN
0163–3821 ; no. 60)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0–313–29283–3 (alk. paper)
1. Greek drama (Tragedy)—Presentation, Modern. 2. United States—
Civilization—Greek influences. 3. Theater—United States—
History. I. Title. II. Series.
PA3238.H37 1995
792.9′5′09730904—dc20 94–48016
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data is available.
Copyright © 1995 by Karelisa V. Hartigan
All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be
reproduced, by any process or technique, without the
express written consent of the publisher.
Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: 94–48016
ISBN: 0–313–29283–3
ISSN: 0163–3821
First published in 1995
Greenwood Press, 88 Post Road West, Westport, CT 06881
An imprint of Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc.
Printed in the United States of America
The paper used in this book complies with the
Permanent Paper Standard issued by the National
Information Standards Organization (Z39.48–1984).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
For Kevin, with love

Contents
Preface ix
1. Introduction 1
2. The Earliest Plays 7
Sophocles: Oedipus Tyrannus
Sophocles: Antigone
3. Greek Tragedy Gains Recognition: 1900–1915 15
Euripides: Trojan Women
Euripides: Iphigeneia at Tauris
Euripides: Electra
4. Greek Tragedy Comes of Age: 1915–1935 25
Sophocles: Electra
Sophocles: Oedipus Tyrannus
5. Greek Tragedy Achieves Status: 1935–1950 39
Sophocles: Oedipus Tyrannus
Euripides: Trojan Women
Euripides: Medea
Euripides: Hippolytus
Euripides: Electra
6. Greek Tragedy Responds to War, Drugs, and Flower
Children: 1960–1970 67
Aeschylus: Oresteia
Euripides: The Bacchae
Euripides: Iphigeneia at Aulis
viii • Contents
7. Greek Tragedy Echoes a Period of Self-Reflection: 1970–1980 101
Aeschylus: Persians
Sophocles: Oedipus at Colonus
8. Greek Tragedy and Reevaluation: 1980–1994 111
Sophocles: Antigone
Sophocles: Ajax
Euripides: Alcestis
Euripides: Orestes
9. Occasional Productions: Greek Tragedies Rarely Brought to
the Boards 131
Aeschylus: Prometheus Bound
Sophocles: Philoctetes
Sophocles: Women of Trachis
Euripides: Ion
Euripides: Hecuba
Euripides: Heracles
Euripides: Suppliant Women
10. Conclusion 147
Selected Bibliography 155
Index 157
Preface
This book developed from the chapter on the history of Greek tragedy
production I wrote at the request of Meyer Reinhold for the Classical
Tradition in the Americas project. As I did the research for that multivolume,
multiauthor series, I realized there existed a great wealth of material scat-
tered in various collections and journals that might be brought together to
give a more complete picture of how Greek tragedy has been staged in the
United States. More interesting was the critical reception given these stag-
ings of the ancient texts. Two themes soon became evident: first, a perform-
ance of a Greek play prompts the theater critics to wax philosophical; a
production leads them to ponder the ideas learned (however imperfectly)
in school and to debate the value of “the classics.” Second, the texts that
held appeal for directors and the American audience varied with the
political tenor of the times. Thus Trojan Women was frequently staged
during times of military conflict, but seldom during times of peace.
Euripides’ The Bacchae was not performed early in the century, but became
the play of choice during the 1960s. While not every production of Greek
tragedy was staged in response to social conditions, general trends are
possible to identify.
The book has been arranged in chronological units that roughly corre-
spond to the social history of this nation. To avoid a disjointed discussion
of a text’s performance history, I have blended the two possible methods of
presentation: the plays that appealed during a specific time period are
noted, and then a full production history of the most popular play (or plays)
of that period is given. Thus while the discussion breaks the time frames of
the chapters, the production histories are continuous. While Greek tragedy
has long been a vibrant part of the repertoire of college and university