The research premise of this ongoing practice-as-research project is ‘an investigation into ways of addressing and physically embodying questions of ‘character’ within contemporary performance of ancient Greek texts’.
The project relates to new translations of Euripides’ Medea, by John Harrison, and Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, by Philip de May, in the series Cambridge Translations from Greek Drama (Series Editors: John Harrison and Judith Affleck, Cambridge University Press) as well as a new translation of Euripides’ Hecuba by John Harrison.
Dorinda’s role in Medea,and Agamemnon was that of Director. Her role in Hecuba was that of Dramaturg.
The project has been undertaken with professional actors, designers, a composer, administrators and technicians employed by Foursight Theatre, UK (Co-Artistic Directors Frances Land and Sarah Thom).
Public performances of Medea took place on a national tour between March 6th and May 12th 2001. Public performances of Agamemnon took place at the multi-cultural Newhampton Arts Centre, Wolverhampton, between 3rd and 14th February 2004. Public performances of Hecuba took place on a national tour between October 7th and the end of November 2004.
The professional actors in Medea, Agamemnon and Hecuba were from different ethnic backgrounds and four different languages were spoken and sung in the performance of Agamemnon.
Reviews of performances include reports from Juliet Dusinberre, Girton College, Cambridge, Professor Lorna Hardwick, Open University and John Harrison, Series Editor Cambridge University Press.
Featured in the photo gallery (photographer: Dave Finchett):
Purvin – Puppet Designer and Maker, Agamemnon 2004
Further research-based outcomes:
An article entitled Agamemnon: Foursight Theatre’s 2004 production - an investigation into ways of addressing and embodying questions of character for the Open University’s website (Editor: Professor Lorna Hardwick)
Three interactive DVD-ROMs published in Arts Archives by the Arts Documentation Unit, Exeter, in association with Cambridge University Press (2006). This documentation includes a video record of each performance, detailed notes by Dorinda, on questions of ‘character’ specific to the new translations of Medea, Agamemnon and Hecuba, an article about ‘process’, relating to Medea, by Naomi Cooke (Foursight Theatre’s Artistic Director who also interpreted the character of Medea), previously published as Physical Text pp16-18. in Total Theatre 13/1/2001, and a collection of further material, including an outline of training exercises developed during the project by Dorinda, and presented publicly in a master class for Nottingham New Stages.
A video published in 2001: BBC Resources-Agamemnon BAP 28091, forming part of the Open University European Identity Course material. This documentation is an edited record of a workshop with professional actors, directed by Dorinda, on the tapestry scene in David Stuttard’s translation of Agamemnon.
A seminar paper as part of a cross-disciplinary graduate seminar series, organised by the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama, Classics Centre, University of Oxford, at Corpus Christie College, June 2004. The seminar series was open to the public and entitled ‘Dionysus Recast: Ancient Drama in the Modern World’.
A seminar paper at the Department of Drama and Theatre, Royal Holloway, University of London, June 2004 on Foursight Theatre’s production of Agamemnon.
An interview with Professor Lorna Hardwick (Professor of Classical Studies, Open University) in May 2004 for their archives.
Three videos documenting the Foursight Theatre productions of Medea, Agamemnonand Hecuba, and further material written by Dorinda, are lodged with the Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama, Classics Centre, University of Oxford, for use by researchers.
Citations:
The production of Agamemnon is cited by Professor Lorna Hardwick (Open University) in her paper Multi-lingualism in receptions of Greek drama on the modern stage. This paper was presented at an international conference on Classics in Post-Colonial Worlds (2004), and is being published in a book entitled Classics in Post Colonial Worlds (Editors: L. Hardwick and C. Gillespie), Oxford University Press (2007). The production is again cited by Professor Lorna Hardwick in a second book Agamemnon in Performance, 458 B.C.-2004 A.D, Oxford University Press (2007). It also forms the basis for Eleftheria Ioannidou’s doctoral study (University of Oxford), in her paper Contemporary Adaptations of Tragedy presented at the Summer School of the European Network of Ancient Drama in Epidauros, Greece (2004). Information about the Foursight Theatre productions of Medea, AgamemnonandHecuba is published in the APGRD Database, University of Oxford, ed. Amanda Wrigley. This database is in use by scholars internationally.
Sample reports on Foursight Theatre’s productions of Medea and Agamemnon: Juliet Dusinberre, Girton College, Cambridge, Professor Lorna Hardwick, Open University and John Harrison, Series Editor Cambridge University Press.
The University of Exeter, Department of Drama, Thornlea, New North Road, Exeter EX4 4LA
Telephone: +44 1392 724580
Last updated on
Monday, 2 August, 2010
by: J.G.Primrose@exeter.ac.uk Copyright and Disclaimer
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