Scapegoat Carnivale’s Tragic Trilogy: Euripides’s Medea, Euripides’s Bacchae, and Sophocles’s Oedipus Tyrannus - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0228016827 ISBN 13: 9780228016823

Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2023

Synopsis

Between 2010 and 2017, Canada experienced an efflorescence of Greek tragedy, led by independent Montreal theatre company Scapegoat Carnivale’s energetic performances of Euripides’s Medea and Bacchae and Sophocles’s Oedipus Tyrannus. The performances featured crisp new translations by co–artistic director Joseph Shragge, large casts, and full-throated sung choruses. Scapegoat Carnivale’s trilogy of these familiar but rarely performed plays is at the core of this volume, which includes all three novel play scripts, the company’s stage directions, and helpful annotations that elucidate Greek names and cultural references and place the textual choices in the context of the productions themselves as well as the long manuscript traditions germane to each tragedy. The result sheds light on both the ancient Greek texts and contemporary performance practice, as do accompanying essays introducing the reader to Greek tragedy in fifth-century Athens, reception theories, each play’s themes and cultural resonances, and how Scapegoat’s approach to each play fits into broader global trends of performance and reception. Scapegoat Carnivale’s Tragic Trilogy invites readers from all backgrounds to encounter these plays, whether they are looking at Greek tragedy for the first time or the fiftieth. It gives everyone the tools to understand where these plays came from, offers insights into how they can and should be performed now, and shows why they are more relevant than ever in contemporary theatre and in life.

About this title

About the Author

Lynn Kozak is associate professor in history and classical studies at McGill University.

Edition details

• Publisher: McGill-Queen's University Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0228016827
• ISBN 13: 9780228016823
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 336
• Editor: Kozak Lynn