Costume in the Comedies of Aristophanes

This book offers an interpretation of the handling of costume in the plays of the fifth-century comic poet Aristophanes.

Gwendolyn Compton-Engle (Author)

9781107083790, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 27 April 2015

210 pages, 31 b/w illus. 1 table
26.2 x 18.6 x 1.8 cm, 0.65 kg

'… Compton-Engle has produced an important, thought-provoking work, badly missing from scholarship to date. Despite recent work in the field, comic costume remains still a mainly untrodden path, and this book will no doubt impel further discussion and scholarly debate. It is well-written and well-produced, and highly recommended to students and teachers, to specialists of comedy, and to those interested in gender and performance studies.' Natalia Tsoumpra, Bryn Mawr Classical Review

This book offers an interpretation of the handling of costume in the plays of the fifth-century comic poet Aristophanes. Drawing on both textual and material evidence from the fourth- and fifth-century Greek world, it examines three layers of costume: the bodysuit worn by the actors, the characters' clothes, and the additional layering of disguise. A chapter is also devoted to the inventive costumes of the comic chorus. Going beyond describing what costumes looked like, the book focuses instead on the dynamics of costume as it is manipulated by characters in the performance of plays. The book argues that costume is used competitively, as characters handle each other's costumes and poets vie for status using costume. This argument is informed by performance studies and by analyses of gender and the body.

1. Introduction: comic costume in action
2. The comic body as costume
3. Cloaks, shoes, and societal redress
4. Disguise, gender, and the poet
5. Animal costumes and choral spectacle
6. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: plays & playwrights [DSG], Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Theatre: technical & background skills [ANH], Textile artworks [AFW], History of art: ancient & classical art,BCE to c 500 CE [ACG]