When Then Is Now: Three Greek Tragedies: Three Greek Tragedies: The Trojan Women, Medea, Antigone - Softcover

Brendan Kennelly

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1852247436 ISBN 13: 9781852247430

Publisher: Bloodaxe Books, 2006

Synopsis

When Then Is Now brings together Brendan Kennelly's modern versions of three Greek tragedies: Antigone by Sophocles and Euripides' Medea and The Trojan Women. All three plays dramatise timeless human dilemmas as relevant now as they were in ancient times. All focus on women whose lives are torn apart by war, family conflict and despotic regimes. In his preface, Brendan Kennelly described how writing these three plays helped him enormously at difficult times in his own life. When Then Is Now gives living testament of his belief that 'listening to ancient voices can help us confront, understand and express many problems of today'. When Then Is Now was published simultaneously with Brendan Kennelly's book-length poetry sequence, Now. His Antigone and The Trojan Women were both first performed at the Peacock Theatre, Dublin, in 1986 and 1993 respectively; Medea premièred in the Dublin Theatre Festival in 1988, toured in England in 1989 and was broadcast by BBC Radio 3. His version of Lorca's Blood Wedding was premièred by Northern Stage in Newcastle and Derby in 1996, and is available in a separate edition from Bloodaxe.

About this title

About the Author

Brendan Kennelly (1936-2021) was one of Ireland's most distinguished and best loved poets, as well as a renowned teacher and cultural commentator. Born in 1936 in Ballylongford, Co. Kerry, he was Professor of Modern Literature at Trinity College, Dublin for over 30 years, and retired from teaching in 2005. He published over 30 books of poetry, including Familiar Strangers: New & Selected Poems 1960-2004 (Bloodaxe Books, 2004), which includes the whole of his book-length poem The Man Made of Rain (1998). He was best-known for two controversial poetry books, Cromwell, published in Ireland in 1983 and in Britain by Bloodaxe in 1987, and his epic poem The Book of Judas (1991), which topped the Irish bestsellers list: a shorter version was published by Bloodaxe in 2002 as The Little Book of Judas. His third epic, Poetry My Arse (1995), did much to outdo these in notoriety. All these remain available separately from Bloodaxe, along with his more recent titles: Glimpses (2001), Martial Art (2003), Now (2006), Reservoir Voices (2009), The Essential Brendan Kennelly: Selected Poems, edited by Terence Brown and Michael Longley, with audio CD (2011), and Guff (2013). His anthology The Heavy Bear Who Goes with Me – co-edited with Neil Astley – is due from Bloodaxe in April 2022.

Edition details

• Publisher: Bloodaxe Books
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1852247436
• ISBN 13: 9781852247430
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 216