Hellenic Common: Greek Drama and Cultural Cosmopolitanism in the Neoliberal Era PDF
Preview Hellenic Common: Greek Drama and Cultural Cosmopolitanism in the Neoliberal Era
Hellenic Common Hellenic Common argues that theatrical adaptations of Greek tragedy exemplify the functioning of a cosmopolitan cultural commonwealth. Analyzing plays by Femi Osofisan, Moira Buffini, Marina Carr, Colin Teevan, and Yael Farber, this book shows how contemporary adapters draw tragic and mythic material from a cultural common and remake those sto- ries for modern audiences. Phillip Zapkin theorizes a political economy of adaptation, combining both a formal reading of adaptation as an esthetic practice and a political reading of adaptation as a form of resistance. Drawing an ethical center from Kwame Anthony Appiah’s work on cosmopolitan- ism and Michael Hardt and Antonio Negri’s theory of the common, Hellenic Common argues that Attic tragedy forms a cultural commonwealth from which dramatists the world over can rework, reimagine, and restage materi- als to envision aspirational new worlds through the arts. This study will be of great interest to students and scholars of drama, adap- tation studies, literature, and neoliberalism. Phillip Zapkin is Assistant Teaching Professor of English at Pennsylvania State University, USA. Routledge Advances in Theatre and Performance Studies Problems of Viewing Performance Epistemology and Other Minds Michael Y. Bennett Dramaturgies of Interweaving Engaging Audiences in an Entangled World Erika Fischer-Lichte, Christel Weiler and Torsten Jost Shakespeare and Celebrity Cultures Jennifer Holl Actor Training in Anglophone Countries Past, Present and Future Peter Zazzali Hellenic Common Greek Drama and Cultural Cosmopolitanism in the Neoliberal Era Phillip Zapkin Shakespeare’s Hobby-Horse and Early Modern Popular Culture Natália Pikli Jerzy Grotowski and Ludwik Flaszen Five Encounters with the Sage Juliusz Tyszka Opera in Performance Analyzing the Performative Dimension of Opera Productions Risi Clemens Performances that Change the Americas Stuart Day For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/ Routledge-Advances-in-Theatre–Performance-Studies/book-series/RATPS Hellenic Common Greek Drama and Cultural Cosmopolitanism in the Neoliberal Era Phillip Zapkin First published 2022 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 Phillip Zapkin The right of Phillip Zapkin to be identified as author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Zapkin, Phillip, 1987- author. Title: Hellenic common : Greek drama and cultural cosmopolitanism in the neoliberal era / Phillip Zapkin. Description: Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, 2022. | Series: Routledge advances in theatre and perfromance | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2021010069 | ISBN 9780367536466 (hardback) | ISBN 9780367536480 (paperback) | ISBN 9781003082743 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Greek drama—Modern presentation. | Greek drama (Tragedy)—Adaptations—History and criticism. Classification: LCC PA3238 .Z37 2022 | DDC 882.009—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021010069 ISBN: 9780367536466 (hbk) ISBN: 9780367536480 (pbk) ISBN: 9781003082743 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003082743 Typeset in Bembo by KnowledgeWorks Global Ltd. For Andi, my partner Sandy and Mike, my parents and Molly, my sister. Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Buying Piraeus, owning Greece 1 A very brief history of neoliberalism 4 McTheatre: Neoliberalism on stage 6 Adaptation, theatre, and resistance to neoliberal hegemony 8 The cultural commons 12 Chapter summaries 14 Conclusion 18 1. Adaptation: Shared cultural myths 22 The field of adaptation 23 The political economy of adaptation 28 Why the Greeks in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries? 32 Global Greeks? 38 Adaptation’s cosmopolitan political potential 41 Conclusion 43 2. Economic (neo)colonialism: Exploitation makes globalization go ‘round 47 A global economy 48 Economic anti-colonialism: Protest in Femi Osofisan’s Women of Owu 50 Art and culture as survival tools 57 The god of profit: Nation building and global economics in Moira Buffini’s Welcome to Thebes 61 Violence and disaster capitalism 65 Politics of disavowal: Neoliberal rhetoric and results 68 Conclusion 71 viii Contents 3. …And their families: Neoliberal family and the dissolution of the social 74 Family and the neoliberal paradox 75 Competing models of family in Marina Carr’s By the Bog of Cats 79 Contradictions to neoliberal ideals: Travellers and domestic labor 88 Breaking down society, building society through theatre 93 Conclusion 96 4. Korinthiazomai: Rewriting desire and perverse enjoyment 99 The psychology of neoliberalism 100 New plays from old fragments 104 Commodified society: Sex, religion, and family 107 Alcmaeon’s symptom 111 Creon’s obsession 115 God from the law 119 Conclusion 121 5. Ubuntu: Building a common world 124 Cosmopolitan ethics 125 Molora and its classical intertexts 130 Molora and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission 133 African languages and performance forms 138 The humane power of the Xhosa Chorus 140 Conclusion 144 Conclusion: Buying Greece: Or, you get what you pay for 148 Theatre takes on culture 150 Theatre takes on capitalism 154 Index 160 Acknowledgments From the beginning of my dissertation process in 2014 to the book you now hold in your hands—and thank you, reader, for buying or borrowing a copy—this has been a long and beloved labor for me. This book would not have been possible without the help and input of so many people who deserve, at the very least, a special mention here. In particular, I’d like to thank my dissertation committee for their help throughout the initial iteration of this project. Starting with Ryan Claycomb, my chair, mentor, and friend. You’ve been one of the biggest intellectual influences on me and my scholarship. Lisa Weihman, Katy Ryan, Dennis Allen, and Emily Klein, thank you all for the feedback, the discussions, and the dissent (even about me using psychoanalytic criticism). My deepest respect and love. Thank you to my brilliant partner Andi Stout, who has discussed politics, economics, neoliberalism, and my book/dissertation at length with me, even when she didn’t want to. I’d also like to thank my parents, Sandy and Mike, and my sister, Molly. You have always been supportive, and without you all I would not have been able to complete this. Thank you, Routledge editors, particularly Laura Hussey and Swati Hindwan, who did so much work to help get this book into its final form. Sections of this book have been previously published—in whole or in part—in different iterations, and I would like to extend my gratitude to the editors and peer reviewers of PMLA, Comparative Drama, and Modern Drama not only for allowing me to reprint the following sections, but also for your invaluable feedback that strengthened both the articles and this book as a whole. Portions of Chapter 5—Ubuntu: Building a Common World—originally appeared as “Ubuntu Theatre: Building a Human World in Yael Farber’s Molora” in PMLA, volume 136, issue 3, May 2021, published by the Modern Language Association of America. Portions of Chapter 2—Economic (Neo)Colonialism: Exploitation Makes Globalization Go ‘Round—about Femi Osofisan’s Women of Owu orig- inally appeared as “Charles de Gaulle Airport: The Camp as Neoliberal
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