Mask and Performance in Greek Tragedy by David Wiles

Mask and Performance in Greek Tragedy by David Wiles

Why did Greek actors in the age of Sophocles always wear masks? In this book, first published in 2007, David Wiles provided the first book-length study of this question. He surveys the evidence of vases and other monuments, arguing that they portray masks as part of a process of transformation, and that masks were never seen in the fifth century as autonomous objects. Wiles goes on to examine experiments with the mask in twentieth-century theatre, tracing a tension between the use of masks for possession and for alienation, and he identifies a preference among modern classical scholars for alienation. Wiles declines to distinguish the political aims of Greek tragedy from its religious aims, and concludes that an understanding of the mask allows us to see how Greek acting was simultaneously text-centred and body-centred. This book challenges orthodox views about how theatre relates to ritual, and provides insight into the creative work of the actor.

'This is one of the most important books on Greek drama to appear in the last twenty years' Journal of Hellenic Studies

Wiles, David: - David Wiles is Professor of Theatre at Royal Holloway, University of London. He has published extensively in the fields of classical and Elizabethan theatre, and his Short History of Western Performance Space was published by Cambridge University Press in 2003. This is his ninth book, and previous books have been shortlisted for the Criticos, Society for Theatre Research and Runciman prizes. He was a contributor to the Oxford Illustrated History of Theatre (1995) and is currently, with Christine Dymkowski, editing The Cambridge Companion to Theatre History. The focus of his teaching and research has always been the relation of theatre to society, particularly in respect of festival, and the present book builds on the breadth of his intellectual interests. Its genesis lies in a keynote lecture which he was invited to give to the International Federation for Theatre Research at the University of Maryland in 2005.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9781107404793
ISBN 10	1107404797
Title	Mask and Performance in Greek Tragedy
Author	David Wiles
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Cambridge University Press
Year published	2012-07-19
Number of pages	334
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable