A Guide To Greek Theatre And Drama KennethMcLeish Kenneth McLeish studied Classics and Music at Worcester College, Oxford. Once a full-time translator, author and dramatist, he published extensively including The Good Reading Guide, Shakespeare's People, The Theatre of Aristophanes, Companion to the Arts in the Twentieth Century, Myth, The Listener's Guide to Classical Music and Crucial Classics (both with Valerie McLeish) and The Bloomsbury Guide to Human Thought (as general editor). TrevorR.Griffithscompleted by Formerly Professor of Theatre Studies at London Metropolitan University, Trevor R. Griffiths is currently a visiting professor in Humanities at the University of Hertfordshire. First Edition 2011 BLOOMSBURY, METHUEN DRAMA and the Diana logo are trademarks of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc First published in 2003 by Methuen Publishing Limited Imprint previously known as Methuen Drama Bloomsbury Methuen Drama An imprint Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 50 Bedford Square London WC1B 3DP UK 1385 Broadway New York NY 10018 USA www.bloomsbury.com 2003 Trevor R. Griffiths 2003 Kenneth McLeish The Authors have asserted their rights under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as authors of this work. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress Athens in the fifth century B.C. produced a remarkable flowering of playwrights: Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides in tragedy, Aristophanes and, in the fourth century, Menander in comedy. They laid the foundations for all Western drama and continue to speak as powerfully after 2,500 years.Kenneth McLeish’s authoritative and enthusiastic Guide to Greek Theatre and Drama is full of his enjoyment and understanding of the plays. It provides an extensive introduction to Athenian theatre, the form of the plays and, as far as can be established, how the plays were performed. Then follows a background section on each playwright, a synopsis and commentary for each of the surviving plays and an outline of Aristotle's theories on drama. The result is an indispensable companion for anyone interested in Greek theatre. The volume was completed by Professor Trevor R. Griffiths. 978-1-4081-6905-6 978-0-4137-2030-6 978-1-4081-4986-7 978-1-4081-4984-3 Plays and Playwrights 10.5040/9781408169056 1 5 A Guide To Greek Theatre And Drama KENNETH MCLEISH’S translations, of plays by most of the Greek and Roman dramatists, Ibsen, Feydeau, Moliére, Strindberg and others, have been performed throughout the world on stage, film, TV and radio. His original plays include I Will If You Will, Just Do It, The Arabian Nights, Omma and Orpheus. His books include The Theatre of Aristophanes, A Pocket Guide to Shakespeare’s Plays(with Stephen Unwin) and The Bloomsbury Good Reading Guide. He was editor of the Drama Classics series for Nick Hern Books and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature. He died in 1997. TREVOR R. GRIFFITHS is Professor of Theatre Studies at London Metropolitan University. His publications include A Midsummer Night's Dream in CUP’s Shakespeare in Production series, Stagecraft, seven volumes in the Nick Hern Books Drama Classics series of which he is associate general editor, British and Irish Women Dramatists since 1958 (joint editor with M. Llewellyn-Jones) and the Bloomsbury Theatre Guide (with Carole Woddis). He is one of the editors of Theatre Notebook and was chair of the board of Foco Novo Theatre Company. 2015