Chorus girls – and boys
November 18, 2015
Lynn Fotheringham tells us about the creative challenges and opportunities of the Chorus. In the Horrible Histories Groovy Greeks[1] theatre-show, a family of supposedly late-arriving theatre-goers are sucked into the action to learn about ancient Greek culture. They are informed that the Greeks had democracy, the Olympics and theatre: that the actors (all male) wore masks, …
Classical inspirations
November 6, 2015
This November each department in Humanities is running a Twitter campaign where members of the school post images representing themselves with a favourite aspect of their discipline. In Classics, our hashtag is #itsaclassic, and our particular theme is what inspired each of us to take up studying the classical world at university. As Admissions Officer, …
Effaced: the missing noses of classical antiquity
October 23, 2015
Mark Bradley explores an important cross-cultural phenomenon. A display cabinet in the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek, Copenhagen, exhibits scores of disembodied noses (and various other appendages) from its Greek and Roman sculpture collections. This macabre collection of body parts was assembled in 1981 out of marble and plaster noses that had been deliberately removed by the …
Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk — or should that be Medea?
October 19, 2015
Helen Lovatt reflects on intertextuality and a trip to the opera (and continues to see Argonauts everywhere). Last week I experienced the theatrical pounding of Shostakovich’s Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in a sensational and vivid production by the ENO. Get a flavour of it on youtube here. I do like a text that puts its …
Dressing for a toga party
September 22, 2015
The toga party is a staple of students’ first week at university. Our resident expert on ancient clothing, Dr Nikki Rollason, explains how to impress… So, after months of waiting you’ve finally arrived at the University of Nottingham to study at the Department of Classics. But how can you show this to the world? By …
Upcoming Classical drama
September 20, 2015
As a new semester begins, Lynn Fotheringham has been searching out upcoming theatrical productions with a Classical connection. Contemporary theatre is in the midst of a love affair with Greek tragedy, with both the Almeida Theatre in London (lots of great stuff on their website) and the Classic Stage Company in New York holding festivals this summer. …
The Ancient World is Awesome
August 13, 2015
Helen Lovatt explores Classical reception and childhood creativity in the Lego Movie. This post contains spoilers. If you haven’t seen the Lego movie, watch it immediately! The Lego Movie (2014) sets creativity in competition with conformity. You can watch the ‘Everything is Awesome’ sequence on Youtube, and it gives a good flavour of the central themes …
Greek Tragedy on the Small Screen
August 12, 2015
Lynn Fotheringham previews a series of rarely-seen TV productions of Greek tragedy, which she has organised to be shown in Nottingham next spring. In January-March 2016, CADRE and Lakeside Arts are bringing the BFI mini-season ‘Classics on TV: Greek Tragedy on the Small Screen’ to Nottingham. These rare productions range in date from 1958 to the last production specially …
Donald Trump, Aristotelian?
August 11, 2015
Trump’s recent comments suggest a return to ancient Greek physiological theory. Oliver Thomas investigates. Think Trump, think hair, towers, The Apprentice, controversy,… but not Aristotle. However, last Friday Trump called into CNN to complain about Megyn Kelly’s aggressive questioning during the previous evening’s Republican debate. The topic of the questions had been Trump’s long …
Catullus 16, Money for Nothing, and the value of art
June 28, 2015
By Helen Lovatt. My son is discovering the music of the past via Spotify. Last week he said: ‘Let’s listen to the one with “chips for free”. I really like that one.’ After some discussion and quotation of lines (‘We gotta move these refrigerators’) it became apparent that he meant Money for Nothing by Dire …
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