‘Greek Theatre, Landscape and Environment’, a Public Workshop

Greek Theatre, Landscape and Environment

28^th of February 2014 4pm
Anatomy Museum, King’s College London

The performance spaces of fifth-century Athenian drama were in many respects radically different from anything we encounter in the modern era. Theatres were not so much buildings as landscape architecture. They were embedded in the natural landscape and offered their audiences panoramic views of the surrounding environment. This environment has profoundly informed the plays’ imagery, dramaturgy and theoretical reflections. In many plays, the imagery of natural spaces (mountainscapes, the sea, agricultural fields), which evoked what would have lain immediately in view of the audience, is central to many plays’ reflection on the natural and the divine order. In other plays, there is intense focus on the beaten surface of the orchestra as evocative of the earth and its generative (and deadly) powers. Many plays integrate the presence and movement of the sun, the winds and other elements of the sky, trees and vegetation, rocks and hillsides, whilst exploiting the contrasts between light, shade and darkness generated during performance time in intensely symbolic ways. Beyond the immediate environment, Greek drama also evokes natural spaces beyond the audience’s horizon. It thus creates an all-encompassing whole which is crucial for its reflection on humanity’s place in the cosmic and natural order.

This workshop will explore the theory that the landscape – in terms of the audience’s perception not just of the theatre space but also of their apprehension of the natural world – is fundamental to our understanding of Greek drama as spatial medium. It will take a macroscopic and holistic view of theatre space relating it to the ecological surroundings of Greek theatrical performances. It will also look at what the engagement of the theatre with the landscape can tell us about Greek attitudes to the human relationship to the environment.

Talks by pioneering scholars in the field of theatre space will be followed by a roundtable discussion open to the audience. The event will take place in the state of the art KCL Anatomy Museum, whose facilities will be used to make a visual statement of the relationship between theatre space, landscape and environment.

Programme

4.00-4.30 Arrival and coffee/tea. Welcome.

4.30-5.15 Rush Rehm (Stanford): Tragic ecology: space and limit in Greek tragedy.

5.15-6.00 David Wiles (Exeter): Space and place: Greek theatre and the earth.

6.00-6.30 Break for drinks.

6.30-7.00 Peter Meineck (New York): Landscape and ecstasy: The neuroscience of the ancient Athenian theatre.

7.00-7.30 Emmanuela Bakola (KCL): The spaces that make the earth: a holistic spatial approach to Aeschylus’ Persians.

7.30-8.30 Discussion (Discussants: Fiona Macintosh (Oxford), Richard Seaford (Exeter), Oliver Taplin (Oxford), Chris Carey (UCL), Nick Lowe (RHUL))

Information and Bookings

The event is sponsored by the Leverhulme Trust, the KCL Public Engagement Department and the Benjamin Jowett Trust Fund.

Entry is free of charge. Places are restricted to 60, and prior booking is necessary to allow entry. Please register by e-mailing .

Members of the public with an interest in Greek theatre are warmly encouraged to attend.