Greek Tragic Theatre

Greek Tragic Theatre is an illuminating and lucid account of how Greek tragedy actually worked . Rush Rehm sheds new light on these classic texts and encourages actors and directors to examine Greek tragedy anew by looking at the context in which it was originally performed. Emphasizing the political nature of Greek tragedy, as a theatre of, by, and for the polis , Rehm characterizes fifth-century Athens as a performance culture , one in which the theatre stood alongside other public forums as a place to confront matters of import and moment. The second half of the book examines four exemplary plays, Aeschylus' Oresteia trilogy, Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus , and Euripides' Suppliant Women and Ion . Rehm focuses on how each tragedy unfolds in performance, generating different relationships between the characters on stage and the people in the audience.