Dramaturgical Memory and Virtual Theatre in the Scholia to Aristophanes’ Frogs
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Fausto Montana
Abstract
The close examination of a sample of scholia vetera to Aristophanes’ Frogs, concerning aspects of theatrical staging inherent to the prologue and the parodos of that comedy, reveals a general sensitivity of some ancient commentators to these issues but, at the same time, displays the complex and multilayer character of this testimony. The Alexandrian grammarians seem to have drawn on sources possibly rooted in the performative culture of the previous centuries, though with an interest which appears predominantly diorthotic. The same dramaturgical notions were refunctionalised by exegetes of the subsequent eras and the compiler(s) of the scholiastic corpus to construct a virtual theatre, that is a stage practice explained in words to an audience of readers and students of written texts.
Abstract
The close examination of a sample of scholia vetera to Aristophanes’ Frogs, concerning aspects of theatrical staging inherent to the prologue and the parodos of that comedy, reveals a general sensitivity of some ancient commentators to these issues but, at the same time, displays the complex and multilayer character of this testimony. The Alexandrian grammarians seem to have drawn on sources possibly rooted in the performative culture of the previous centuries, though with an interest which appears predominantly diorthotic. The same dramaturgical notions were refunctionalised by exegetes of the subsequent eras and the compiler(s) of the scholiastic corpus to construct a virtual theatre, that is a stage practice explained in words to an audience of readers and students of written texts.
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- List of Figures IX
- Introduction to Page and Stage 1
- Dramatic Space and Theatrical Meaning: The Case of Sophocles’ Antigone 5
- The Inference of Staging from Deictics, with some Pointers towards Sophocles’ Trachiniae 29
- Divinity on the Classical Greek Stage: Proposing a New Model 45
- Victory Ritual and the Performance of Victory in Aristophanes’ Exodoi 65
- Some Staging Issues and Their Consequences in Aristophanes’ Clouds 83
- Sexy Mutes on the Aristophanic Stage 97
- Pseudartabas and the Persian Eunuchs in Aristophanes’ Acharnians: Textual and Staging Problems 115
- Poetics of Props: On Aristophanes, Acharnians 393–489 131
- Comic Fragments and Lost Dramatic Scenes: Some Considerations 137
- Dramaturgical Memory and Virtual Theatre in the Scholia to Aristophanes’ Frogs 147
- No, They Didn’t Write Stage Instructions, but… 167
- List of Contributors 173
- Index Locorum 177
- Index Rerum 181
Chapters in this book
- Frontmatter I
- Acknowledgements V
- Contents VII
- List of Figures IX
- Introduction to Page and Stage 1
- Dramatic Space and Theatrical Meaning: The Case of Sophocles’ Antigone 5
- The Inference of Staging from Deictics, with some Pointers towards Sophocles’ Trachiniae 29
- Divinity on the Classical Greek Stage: Proposing a New Model 45
- Victory Ritual and the Performance of Victory in Aristophanes’ Exodoi 65
- Some Staging Issues and Their Consequences in Aristophanes’ Clouds 83
- Sexy Mutes on the Aristophanic Stage 97
- Pseudartabas and the Persian Eunuchs in Aristophanes’ Acharnians: Textual and Staging Problems 115
- Poetics of Props: On Aristophanes, Acharnians 393–489 131
- Comic Fragments and Lost Dramatic Scenes: Some Considerations 137
- Dramaturgical Memory and Virtual Theatre in the Scholia to Aristophanes’ Frogs 147
- No, They Didn’t Write Stage Instructions, but… 167
- List of Contributors 173
- Index Locorum 177
- Index Rerum 181
