Synopses & Reviews
David Wiles explores the performance of tragedy as a spatial practice specific to Athenian culture, at once religious and political. After reviewing controversies and archaeological data regarding the fifth-century performance space, Wiles turns to the chorus and shows how dance mapped out the space for the purposes of any given play. He shows how performance as a whole was organized and, through informative diagrams and accessible analyses, brings the theater of Greek tragedy to life.
Review
"Tightly argued and wide-ranging in its citation of modern scholarship and ancient evidence, Wiles's book never becomes indigestible; it should become required reading for serious students of Greek tragedy, including those who are reluctant to heed the author's challenge." W. W. de Grummond, Choice
Table of Contents
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. Orchestra and theatron; Select bibliography; Index.