Warwick Ancient Drama Festival 2024: Aeschylus’ The Persians

Loading Events

« All Events

  • This event has passed.
Jan 25

Warwick Ancient Drama Festival 2024: Aeschylus’ The Persians

25 January - 26 January

£7 – £8

WARWICK ANCIENT DRAMA FESTIVAL

Aeschylus The Persians 25-26 JANUARY 2024

Generously funded by the British Academy
We are pleased to announce that the Warwick Ancient Drama Festival will return in January 2024. After Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex in 2020, Euripides’ Bacchae in 2022, and Aristophanes’ Assemblywomen in 2023, this year will see Aeschylus’ Warwick debut. The Department of Classics and Ancient History would like to invite students and teachers to enjoy a performance of *The Persians*, the earliest surviving Greek tragedy and the only one to draw its plot from historical events, together with assorted talks and lectures from scholars of Greek drama. The festival will take place on the 25th and the 26th January 2024, with the 26th January specifically dedicated to schools. The play itself, presented in the newly-renovated theatre of the Warwick Arts Centre, will be directed and produced by the Classics students at Warwick – follow them at https://www.instagram.com/warwickclassicsplay/?hl=en. There will be three performances: one on Thursday 25th January, at 7.00pm, and two on Friday 26th January (3.30pm, 7.00pm). The performance on Thursday 25th January will be preceded (at 6.00pm) by a public lecture given by Dr Emmanuela Bakola, titled ‘Watching Aeschylus’ Persians in performance’. Tickets for individual bookings for the Thursday and the Friday evening performances are priced at £6, and are available for booking  https://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/whats-on/3yj-aeschylus-the-persians/ Supporting the matinee performance on Friday 26th (3.30pm), the Department is offering a series of lectures, discussions, and seminars specifically for school students, and designed to link in with Greek, Classical Civilisation, Ancient History, Drama, and English syllabuses at GCSE and A-Level. However, no previous knowledge of the play or subject area will be expected. All participants will be able to attend two introductory 20-minute lectures in the morning (11.00):
  • Dr Emmanuela Bakola, ’Introduction to Greek theatre and festivals’
  • Dr Paul Grigsby, ‘The historical context of Aeschylus’ Persians
These will be followed by a selection of talks running simultaneously, and repeated in two sessions (12.15-13.00 and 14.00-14.45):
  • Dr Xavier Buxton, ‘Fear and the feminine in Aeschylus’ Persians
  • Professor David Fearn, ‘How do we talk about the imagery of Aeschylus?’ (seminar)
  • Dr Emmanuela Bakola ‘Watching Aeschylus’ Persians in performance’
The matinee performance is at 15.30. This will be followed (at around 17.30) by a Q&A with the director and producer of the play. In addition, Professor Margaret Miller (author of the seminal Athens and Persia in the Fifth Century B.C.: A Study in Cultural Receptivity) will offer a 30-min videorecorded talk on the Greek imagination of the Persians with evidence from iconography and material culture, which teachers and pupils can watch in their own time. The Schools Day, including the performance, is FREE, but attendees are asked to organise their own transportation and lunch. If you wish to book your pupils for this day, please email me (), declaring
  1. the number of participants, including teachers
  2. which of the afternoon talks you wish your pupils to attend.
*Please do not over-estimate student numbers.* It has been frustrating, in previous years, to see empty seats at this over-subscribed event. The Schools Day will become fully booked very quickly. We will operate a waiting list for those schools who apply after the booking limit has been reached. If the the matinee performance is full, or not convenient, schools may instead book for the evening performances on Thursday 25th (7.00 pm), or Friday 26th (7.00pm). Tickets for both these performances (normally £6) will have 50% discount for school groups, and booking will commence on the 25th October. To make a school group booking for an evening performance, please email at the Warwick Arts Centre, cc’ing me (). I can also provide access and parking information, and answer other enquiries.

Details

Start:
25 January
End:
26 January
Cost:
£7 – £8
Event Category:
Website:
https://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/whats-on/3yj-aeschylus-the-persians/

Venue

Warwick Arts Centre
View Venue Website