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Martin Litchfield West OM

Humble and hearty congratulations to Martin West on his appointment as a member of the Order of Merit.  He is the seventh classical scholar to receive this exclusive honour in the 111 years of the Order’s history, following Sir Richard Jebb (1905), Henry Jackson (1908), Sir James Frazer (1925), J.W. Mackail (1935), Gilbert Murray (1941), …

Only seen dead

Greek tragedy was not always about death, but it very often was:  of the 32 tragedies that survive in full (or almost in full), there are only nine which do not include the death of at least one character.  What is more, while violent death was not seen on the tragic stage (with the very …

Two upcoming talks …

… organized by Nottingham’s Classics Research Workshop in conjunction with the Centre for Ancient Drama and its Reception (CADRE).  Both will be held on Tuesdays at 5 pm in room A3 (unless otherwise notified – any change will be posted on this blog), Humanities Building, University of Nottingham. October 8 – Johanna Hanink (Brown University) …

Tragic Troy in Nottingham

Euripides’ Women of Troy, adapted by Don Taylor and directed by Cynthia Marsh, is playing all this week at Nottingham’s Lace Market Theatre.  And tonight (Wednesday) Professor Judith Mossman, of the University’s Centre for Ancient Drama and its Reception (CADRE), will be giving a post-performance talk at the theatre on “The Life and Times of …

What goes wrong in Euripides’ Bacchae?

In Euripides’ tragedy The Bacchae, the god Dionysus brings terrible suffering on Thebes, the city of his birth, and on all the surviving relatives of his mother Semele.  All the women of Thebes become possessed and flee to the mountains to perform orgiastic rituals in honour of Dionysus, led by Semele’s three sisters Agaue, Ino …

Two productions next year

Spring 2013 will be Greek drama time in Nottingham!  Two productions, a comedy and a tragedy, and both on the theme of the miseries of war.  In April, the University’s own Lakeside Arts Centre will stage Aristophanes’ comedy Lysistrata, in which the women of Greece, by withdrawing their sexual services, compel their menfolk to stop fighting …