Costume in Greek Tragedy

Description

The core of the book focuses on tragic costume in its original performance context of fifth-century Athens, but the implications of subsequent uses in Roman and more recent performances are also taken into consideration.Most importantly, the reader is invited to think about how tragic costume worked as a language in ancient performance and was manipulated physically and verbally in order to create meaning. Elements of this language are shown through a series of test cases from a range of ancient tragedies. All ancient passages are given in translation and the book includes a glossary of terms.

Rosie Wyles is Leverhulme Research Fellow, University of Nottingham.

This introductory study is highly informative and is not restricted to costume alone but handles various issues relating to general theater topics. It is a well-focused monograph that attempts to furnish answers to various vexing questions that deal with costume. -- Marios Philippides, University of Massachusetts Amherst * New England Classical Journal * The first extended study of its kind in half a century, Rosie Wyles' Costume in Greek Tragedy synthesizes and in many areas advances scholarly discussion of fifth-century Greek tragic costume. With attention to detail, Wyles mines deeply the well-worked visual and verbal evidence, offering interpretations which take both theatrical semiotics and reception theory into account ... Costume in Greek Tragedy gives a crucial and complex component of Attic drama the modern, book-length study it deserves. -- Al Duncan, University of Utah * Bryn Mawr Classical Review *