Thebes on stage and on site: tragedy, re-enactment, and textual topographies

Thebes was the paradigmatic city of Greek tragedy. Its distinctive walled topography offered a sealed conceptual space in which its ruling dynasty played itself out to destruction. Thebes was also a concrete place, a city with its own particular history.

This paper looks at the ways that the visual and performative legacy of the stage play out in the city itself, using a traveller’s account from the 2nd c AD: Pausanias’ Guide to Greece. It draws on Rebecca Schneider’s recent observations regarding historical re-enactment to explore the paradoxical theatricality of the past as experienced on site. And it considers the cultural parallels between staged performance, and the habits of touristic spectatorship.

Greta Hawes is lecturer in the Centre for Classical Studies. She is a specialist in Greek myth. Her current work concerns the spatial dynamics of storytelling.

Date and Times

Location

Milgate Room, 14 Ellery Crescent, 2601 Acton,