Figures of Play

Gregory Dobrov's Figures of Play explores the reflexive aspects of ancient theatrical culture across genres. Fifth-century tragedy and comedy sublimated the agonistic basis of Greek civilization in a way that invited the community of the polis to confront itself. In the theatre, as in the courts and assemblies, a significant subset of the Athenian public was spectator and judge of contests where important social and ideological issues were played to it by its own members. The "syntax" of drama is shown to involve specific "figures of play" through which the theatrical medium turns back upon itself to study the contexts of its production. Figures of Play is at the forefront of new developments in scholarly approaches to the Greek theatre, bringing the younger methods of literary criticism and performance theory to bear on the study of classics.