Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- 1 The problem of space
- 2 The Theatre of Dionysus
- 3 Focus on the centre point
- 4 The mimetic action of the chorus
- 5 The chorus: its transformation of space
- 6 Left and right, east and west
- 7 Inside/outside
- 8 The vertical axis
- 9 The iconography of sacred space
- 10 Orchêstra and theatron
- Select bibliography
- Index
3 - Focus on the centre point
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 January 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- List of abbreviations
- 1 The problem of space
- 2 The Theatre of Dionysus
- 3 Focus on the centre point
- 4 The mimetic action of the chorus
- 5 The chorus: its transformation of space
- 6 Left and right, east and west
- 7 Inside/outside
- 8 The vertical axis
- 9 The iconography of sacred space
- 10 Orchêstra and theatron
- Select bibliography
- Index
Summary
The notion that the actors performed (principally) on a stage whilst the chorus performed (principally) in the orchêstra is another important twentieth-century chimaera. Although alien to Dörpfeld's view of the Greek theatre, this idea was integral to Fiechter's vision of performance before a grand façade. Pickard-Cambridge was alive to the issue at stake:
A stage implies that it is no longer the chorus, with its ritual solemnity and its prophetic function, as embodying the spirit and soul of the poets' teaching, that is the main interest of the audience, but the actors and their histrionic skill. This transference of interest from religion to technique happened in Athens, or began to happen … in the fourth century.
Pickard-Cambridge's sentiments are in line with Plato's view that tragedy is essentially a form of choral dance. Aristotle, taking the opposite view, argued that the chorus should function as a character within the drama, and also states that the central character is not exceptional but just better than average. We should note the corollary that, being homogeneous, both chorus and protagonists ought to share the same acting space. Pickard-Cambridge stressed the hieratic aspect of tragic performance and we need also to consider the democratic aspect. Accounts of Reinhardt's production of Oedipus – from the days when Dörpfeld still held sway in Germany – illustrate the primary implication of using a stage: a mass of Thebans at the foot of a stage emphasized the larger-than-life stature of Oedipus the tragic hero.
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- Tragedy in AthensPerformance Space and Theatrical Meaning, pp. 63 - 86Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997
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