Euphronios and EURO 2016
June 24, 2016
What does the European Football Championship have to do with Greek art? Andreas Kropp has been tuning in… Britain is Brexiting, Europe is reeling, and we can’t even begin to comprehend what just hit us. So how about this, let’s instead just focus our attention on that other thing gripping the continent these days, …
What would Plato do? Greek Thought in US Politics
June 17, 2016
As the 2016 US Presidential election campaign continues to confound forecasters, recent PhD student and Teaching Affiliate John Bloxham discusses classics and American politics. Looking at American politics through the prism of Greek philosophy probably struck a few people as a waste of time when I started my PhD on the reception of Greek thought in …
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, …
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 …
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 …
A Puzzle for the Holidays
April 11, 2015
Helen Lovatt finds a brainteaser for Latinists at Audley End. Sometimes it can be hard to escape from Classics. My family, for instance, like to visit country houses. What could be more relaxing than a tour of a grand residence, a walk in the park, and a cup of tea in the cafe? But then there …
The Night Raid
April 1, 2015
Helen Lovatt considers Caroline Lawrence’s The Night Raid and writing about the classical world for children. Several people in my Independent Second Year Project group have decided to write for an audience of children. We have been discussing how this can make a difference to your writing in both style and content. For …
Sappho’s Beloved
March 5, 2015
Doctoral student Harriet Lander introduces a case-study from her work on the history of translations of Sappho. Solon, according to Aelian, asked his nephew to teach him one of Sappho’s poems, ‘So that I may learn it and then die’. This desire to know and understand Sappho’s lyrics has been a pervasive attitude from antiquity …
A visit to Ally Pally
February 26, 2015
Lynn Fotheringham gets to stand where Patrick Stewart played Oedipus! Elena Theodorokopoulos, a classics lecturer at the University of Birmingham, has organised two screenings of televised productions of Greek tragedy at the Library of Birmingham this fortnight – two Oedipodes (1972 with Ian Holm; 1977 with Patrick Stewart – second half only) tonight, and a 1979 Agamemnon …
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