DRAM 301 - Seminar in Classical Civilization

Semester Offered: Fall
1 unit(s)

(Same as GRST 301) Topic for 2016/17a: Ancient Theater: Traditional and Radical Approaches. What matters in the history of theater and performance? Why do we still care about Plato’s cave and Aristotle’s Poetics? In this survey course on ancient theater and performance, we begin by assessing Classics as a discipline and its privileged place at the head of the Western theater tradition. We read works by all the major Greek and Roman playwrights: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Menander, Plautus, Terence, and Seneca. Our investigations of the plays are paired with canonical and radical interlocutors from Aristotle to Nietzsche to Luce Irigaray. We also consider the ancient performative works from outside the west: theMahabharata and Kabuki and Nō theater. Finally, the course concludes with the viewing and examination of modern adoptions and re-performances, including Peter Hall’s Eumenides, Yukio Ninagawa’s Oedipus Rex, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, andSita Sings the Blues, among others. Tara Mulder.

Prerequisite(s): previous course work in Greek and Roman Studies or Drama, or permission of the instructor.

All readings are in English.

Two 75-minute periods.