Greek and Roman Actors
Aspects of an Ancient Profession

Collection of essays exploring all aspects of the actor in the Greek and Roman worlds.

Pat Easterling (Edited by), Edith Hall (Edited by)

9780521045506, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 20 December 2007

544 pages, 61 b/w illus. 2 maps
23.5 x 15.6 x 2.6 cm, 0.761 kg

'… this volume represents, to date, the most valuable companion to actors and acting in Graeco-Roman antiquity … recommend the volume not only to specialists but also to graduate students and other readers looking for an up-to-date introduction to current scholarship on ancient acting … a volume which will certainly be a standard reference book for years to come.' Journal of Hellenic Studies

This collection of twenty essays examines the art, profession and idea of the actor in Greek and Roman antiquity, and has been commissioned and arranged to cast as much interdisciplinary and transhistorical light as possible on these elusive but fascinating ancient professionals. It covers a chronological span from the sixth century BC to Byzantium (and even beyond to the way that ancient actors have influenced the arts from the Renaissance to the twentieth century) and stresses the huge geographical spread of ancient actors. Some essays focus on particular themes, such as the evidence for women actors or the impact of acting on the presentation of suicide in literature; others offer completely new evidence, such as graffiti relating to actors in Asia Minor; others ask new questions, such as what subjective experience can be reconstructed for the ancient actor. There are numerous illustrations and all Greek and Latin passages are translated.

List of illustrations
List of contributors
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Maps
Part I. The Art of the Actor: 1. The singing actors of antiquity Edith Hall
2. The musicians among the actors Peter Wilson
3. The use of the body by actors in tragedy and satyr-play Kostas Valakas
4. Towards a reconstruction of performance style Richard Green
5. Kallippides on the floor-sweepings: the limits of realism in classical acting and performance styles Eric Csapo
6. Looking for the actor's art in Aristotle G. M. Sifakis
7. Acting, action and words in New Comedy Eric Handley
8. 'Acting down': the ideology of Hellenistic performance Richard Hunter
Part II. The Professional World: 9. Nothing to do with the techn?tai of Dionysus? Jane L. Lightfoot
10. Actors and actor-managers at Rome in the time of Plautus and Terence Peter G. McC. Brown
11. The masks on the propylon of the Sebasteion at Aphrodisias John Jory
12. Images of performance: new evidence from Ephesus Charlotte Roueché
13. Female entertainers in late antiquity Ruth Webb
14. Acting in the Byzantine theatre: evidence and problems Walter Puchner
Part III. The Idea of the Actor: 15. Actor as icon Pat Easterling
16. Scholars versus actors: text and performance in the Greek tragic scholia Thomas Falkner
17. Orator and/et actor Elaine Fantham
18. Acting and self-actualisation in imperial Rome: some death scenes Catharine Edwards
19. The subjectivity of Greek performance Ismene Lada-Richards
20. The ancient actor's presence since the Renaissance Edith Hall
Glossary
List of works cited
Index of major ancient passages cited
General index.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: classical, early & medieval [DSBB], Theatre studies [AN]