pickThe author's personal narrative here is not always overly compelling, but the account of the work undertaken is phenomenal. Theatre of War makes an ancient tradition alive and present on military bases, in hospice centers, carceral institutions, homeless shelters, mental health facilities and more, doing exactly what theatre, at it's best, is meant to do- challenge, inspire, heal, create community, and bring us into dialogue and reflection.
I'm a big believer in the power of applied theatre, and was very excited to discover each of these titles in small bookstores as I traveled earlier this year. It feels like they'd be good companion reads so I'm starting now with the tagged book. We'll see where it takes me! #SeeMoreTheatre #DoMoreTheatre #ActOut
This week I pulled out the original recording of The Gospel at Colonus, one of my favorite pieces of theatre- a setting of "Oedipus at Colonus" as a modern parable within the frame of a Black Pentecostal church service. The music is incredible, and a gospel choir serves as our Greek chorus. It inspired me to re-visit the original, as well as Antigone- both still absolute bangers. And yes, that is a CD because the dream of the 90s is ALIVE, y'all!
Mini #BookHaul 📚
Sophocles' Theban Plays is in a matching Penguin edition to the Satyr Plays I bought earlier in the year. It's long annoyed me that Penguin nearly always print the original published date, not the publication date of the volume in hand. This one says 1947, but I think it may be a little later than that.
I wasn't aware that Graves had written a time travel fantasy. It has mixed reviews!
A text book for work to add to the other ⬇️
so-soIt doesn't seem right to rate a play that doesn't have its text fully intact/available, but Menander's sophisticated and supposedly more nuanced New Comedy made me miss Aristophanes's buffoonish, rambunctious, and wildly imaginative Old Comedy. Aristophanes's dad jokes had a sting to them. I read the translation by Norma Miller, titled Old Cantankerous, and it's basically like if Frasier's dad was the lead character in an ancient Greek play.
pickShort and funny. Glad this one was found in the 60s. Definitely recommend!
pickThe last I met Dionysus, he was a fearsome, wily figure in Euripides's masterpiece, The Bacchae. Lest I get too caught up in the grandeur & the outsized emotions of tragedy, Aristophanes sets out to set me right with The Frogs. In this comedy, we meet Dionysus the goof, who is tired of the Athenian tragedians & their pedestrian offerings, & wants to travel to Hades & bring the master, Euripides, back from the dead. As it turns out, Euripides too
