This is a vital and accessible overview of Greek drama from its origins to its later reception, including chapters on authors and dramas in their social and religious context as well as key aspects such as structure, character, staging and music. With contributions by 13 international scholars, world experts in their field, it provides readers with clear, authoritative, up-to-date considerations of both the theory and practice of Greek drama. While each chapter can stand in isolation, the overall structure takes readers on a natural progression - beginning with sources of evidence and origins, considering the major genres and their authors, examining the traditional Aristotelean components of drama in the context of performance, and ending with later reception. In doing so, it explores Greek drama as at once a religious act, a stage for political propaganda, an opportunity for questioning social issues, and pure entertainment - a stunning melange of poetry, music, dance, and visual spectacle, specific to, yet transcending, its immediate context. Written for students, practitioners and a general readership, it forms part of Bloomsbury's Looking at... series, appealing to the same readership and providing context to existing volumes which focus on individual plays.

A collection of essays on ancient Greek drama, giving an accessible overview of the ancient plays and playwrights in in their social and religious context, written by leading academics.

About the Author
David Stuttard is an independent scholar and Fellow of Goodenough College, London, UK. He has directed his own translations and adaptations of Greek drama throughout the UK and in classical theatres in Turkey and Albania. He is the founder of the theatre company Actors of Dionysus and has edited five 'Looking at' volumes for Bloomsbury: Lysistrata (2010), Medea (2014), Bacchae (2016), Antigone (2017), Ajax (2019) Agamemnon (2021) and Persians (2022).


Book Information
ISBN 9781350320895
Author David Stuttard
Format Paperback
Page Count 264
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing PLC