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Instructors: N.N.
Event type:
Seminar
Org-unit: 03-Theatre Studies
Displayed in timetable as:
Subject:
Crediting for:
Hours per week:
2
Language of instruction:
English
Official course description:
The course offers a close reading of Sophocles’ Philoctetes. This play has long been considered a paradigm for the aesthetics of pain (Lessing) and for the centrality of pain to human communication (Herder; Elaine Scarry). In this course, we will focus on empathy between characters in the Philoc-tetes, and on how the music of the play functions as a factor that facilitates or restricts empathy. “Music” will be studied according to the broad sense the term had in classical Athens (mousikê), with particular attention paid to the role of the chorus as an entity whose performance combines song, dance, and poetry. We will explore the language of the play in its original context, as well as important 20th century rewritings and stage adaptations (including versions by Heiner Müller, Seamus Heaney, and Peter Meineck). Both ancient and modern contexts will be approached from a practical perspective, studying the text as script and as a vocal and musical score. Experimental practices may include performance of the Greek language and of collective (i.e. “choral”) movement and song.
The course will be offered in English. Knowledge of Ancient Greek is welcome but not required.
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