28951 - History of Performing Arts in the Ancient World (1) (LM)

Academic Year 2020/2021

Course contents

The course aims to provide an overview - problematic and not manualistic - of the main themes related to the study of ancient theater, with special regard to Attic tragedy and comedy and their interpretations, adaptations and modern and contemporary staging. However, a precise theatrical text will be used as an example-guide. The text chosen, for this academic year, is Euripides’ Medea.

During the lessons we will make use of Italian translations of the texts; references to the original texts will be introduced in such a way as to guarantee a clear understanding even for those who do not know ancient Greek.

Main topics of the course:

1) General introduction to ancient theater as a social, cultural and literary phenomenon, with particular attention to the political context and to the historical and historical-literary premises of its main genres, between Greece and Rome; critical analysis of the main clichés relating to the origins and development of ancient drama, with special regard to Attic tragedy.

2) Some guidelines on the reception of ancient theater in the modern and contemporary age.

3) Contexts and methods of production, performance, reception: who paid for ancient performances? How much did they cost? Who benefited from the staging? How much does the reality of ancient theater resemble our idealized vision of the phenomenon?

4) Reading of exemplary ancient passages in the light of their original context of production, performance and reception, in comparison with staging and contemporary adaptations. Our principal text will be Euripides’ Medea.

All the texts treated in class and any other didactic material (slides, images, videos) will be made available online.

Readings/Bibliography

1) For attending students, the class notes and all the documents online (texts, slides, etc.) are the basis for the final exam.

Required readings: 

2) M. Di Marco (a c. di), Storia del teatro greco, Roma, Carocci, 2020, pp. 27-227, pp. 243-318, pp. 439-460; or two between the following books, one for tragedy and one for comedy: G. Ieranò, La tragedia greca: origini, storia, rinascite, Roma, Salerno, 2010; A. Rodighiero, La tragedia greca, Bologna, il Mulino, 2013; B. Zimmermann, La commedia greca: dalle origini all'età ellenistica, ed. it. a c. di Sotera Fornaro, Roma, Carocci, 2016; G. Mastromarco, P. Totaro, B. Zimmermann (a c. di), La commedia attica antica: forme e contenuti, Lecce, Pensa, 2017. For English-speaking students, alternative readings are possible: please, write to me for further suggestions. 

For students of classical or archaeological studies, required readings are also: A. Pickard-Cambridge, Le feste drammatiche di Atene, trad. it., Firenze, La Nuova Italia, 1996, pp. 79-244 e 361-382 (also in original edition); or five between the scientific papers at your disposal at "Virtuale.unibo.it" (at the end of the course).  

3) One of the following books: V. Di Benedetto-E. Medda, La tragedia sulla scena. La tragedia greca in quanto spettacolo teatrale, Torino, Einaudi, 2002; G. Guastella (a c. di), Le rinascite della tragedia. Origini classiche e tradizioni europee, Roma, Carocci, 2006.

Students of classical or archaeological studies are required to read at least three passages in their original language, to be chosen among the following ones: Eur. Med. 1-48, 214-266, 292-334, 465-519, 690-730, 1038-1080.

Teaching methods

Lectures in class; seminars and discussion of the texts analyzed in class.

Assessment methods

A viva voce examination of the average duration of thirty minutes. The single steps of the examination are usually: 1. development of a topic chosen by the student; 2. discussion on some themes of the course; 3. discussion on the readings chosen by the student.

For non attending student the readings are the basis for the examination.

Assessment guidelines:
failing grades: lack of basic knowledge;
passing grades: literary proficiency at an intermediate level; interpretation of the texts mostly correct, but inaccurate and lacking autonomy
excellent grades: literary proficiency at an upper-mid level; interpretation of the texts not only correct, but performed with autonomy and precision

Teaching tools

Slides; videos of modern staging.

Office hours

See the website of Federico Condello