現代ギリシアの舞台におけるアリストパネスの歩みと,私の取り組み(シンポジウム「喜劇の世界 ギリシアと日本の伝統」)
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概要
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My paper consists of two parts In the first I sketch the trajectory of Aristophanes' adventure on the modern Greek stage during the 20th century, by briefly presenting the emergence of two main trends, the "archaistic" and the "modernistic", in assessing the interpretation of the surviving comedies The former believed that the ancient Greek drama could only be properly interpreted by resorting to the artistic means and conventions of 5th century B C practice, which in actuality means the reconstruction of an ancient performance on a modern stage-a rather utopian aspiration because of a) the serious gaps in our knowledge about the exact situation in theatrical activities of classical Athens, b)the absence of any substantial form of theatrical tradition in Greece, due to a 1500 lacuna of anti-theatrical periods-christian Byzantines and muslim Turks, and c) as a result of the radical changes in social and cultural conditions, the lack of awareness and sensitivity in modern spectators to such a performance The "modernistic" camp of interpretation, on the contrary, maintained that the classical drama could only be appreciated by modern audiences if portrayed by artistic means and in terms of conventions already familiar to them, which actually means the invention of a completely new performance consisting of various, often incompatible, ingredients, as no form of drama even approximately resembling that of classical Greece exists to serve as a model for reference Needless to say, nearly all attempts to interpret the Greek drama naturally use the texts in translation In the case of Aristophanes, however, additional problems are caused by the dependence of his satire on contemporary socio-political reality, on the one hand, and the proverbial bawdiness of his language on the other It is for this reason that the poet became a taboo and, even through the first half of the 20th century, an easy prey at the hands of amateurs or bad touring groups, playing for the mere titillation of male audiences, exceptions were rare The first serious attempts to rehabilitate the maltreated poet only date from the beginning of the 2nd half of the 20th century, under the auspices of National Theatre in Athens, established in 1932, with two productions, representing the two opposite trends The first, with the Clouds, in 1951, undertaken by Sokratis Karadinos, an experienced director, ardent supporter of the "archaistic" approach, drawing his artistic material from various, mainly indirect, ancient sources (vase paintings, testimonies in later texts etc), although attained a remarkable aesthetic result at all levels, failed to appeal to the audience-completely unfamiliar with the grotesque costumes and masks as well as the static movement and conventional acting-but also divided the critics That failure actually ended the attempts of the "archaistic" approach as far as comedy was concerned Aristophanes' real revival was realized by the initiative of two directors, representing the "modernistic" trend, though in slightly different ways as far as the sources wherefrom they drew their raw material and, consequently, the artistic means applied in their interpretation, were concerned Both based their approach on the self-evident receptive capacity of present day audiences, whose referential experiences are drawn from various forms of, not exclusively theatrical, popular entertainment Therefore, with an eclectic method in choosing and utilizing various elements from relative activities and with the mere aspiration of reaching a simply "analogical", as compared with the ancient productions, result, they both created compact, vivid and extremely appealing compositions, which turned the marginalized poet into the most popular theatrical event every summer The main difference between them was that Alexis Solomos, whose production of the Women at the Assembly at Epidaurus, in 1956, also within the context of National Theatre, inaugurated Aristophanes' victory, preferred to draw his material from more or less urban sources, whereas Karolos Koun-creator of the "Art Theatre", a turning point in the history of modern Greek theatre-, whose production of the Birds in 1969 has become a permanent point of reference, rather turned to more popular and folk environments Ever since most of today's Aristophanes' productions take as their starting point, either close imitations or intelligent combinations of, these two "modernistic" methods The second, and shorter, part of the paper deals with my one and only attempt to cope with Aristophanes, undertaken (1984) within the context of a state-subsidized group of Thessaloniki, with a production of the Women at the Assembly, for participation in a local festival and a tour within and outside Greece Our interpretation, somehow moving between the two briefly sketched "modernistic" methods assessments, was partly determined by some rather external factors, such as the limited number of actors-5 male, 8 female-but also the nature of the theatrical venues, mostly closed Music played a decisive role, not only creating the right atmosphere but also determining the rhythm of the performance
- 日本西洋古典学会の論文
- 2006-03-07
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関連論文
- 現代ギリシアの舞台におけるアリストパネスの歩みと,私の取り組み(シンポジウム「喜劇の世界 ギリシアと日本の伝統」)
- 書評 M. J. Clarke, Flesh and Spirit in the Songs of Homer: A Study of Words and Myths