Euripides Our Contemporary

Description

'In this masterful reevaluation of Euripides, Michael Walton recasts the playwright in light of his resonance for today's translators and directors. Springing from the rehearsal room rather than the page, Walton shows us not only why we are ready for Euripides, but why we so desperately need him.' Mary Louise Hart, Associate Curator of Antiquities, J. Paul Getty Museum 'A useful, reader-friendly introduction aimed at non-specialists, [it] offers detailed summaries of Euripides' plays, along with keen observations on their relevance for today's theater.' Rush Rehm, author of Radical Theatre Euripides Our Contemporary is a major new study of the work of the great classical tragedian that illuminates his work and demonstrates both its vitality and how it continues to speak to us today. Taking a thematic approach to Euripides' plays it provides the reader with a wide-ranging and thorough appreciation of the writer's entire canon. For students, teachers and practitioners this is the best single-volume treatment of the writer's work, considering the plays for their accessibility and for their focus on issues and concerns which are as significant as ever in the modern world. Divided into three sections, the book first examines 'Domesticating Tragedy', the manner in which Euripides gave the world of myth an application to ordinary life. The second section tackles the 'Grand Passions': characters under extraordinary pressure and the extent to which personal responsibility can be absolved through various aspects of circumstance. The third looks at the nature of Euripides' theatre and his acknowledgment of it, the great roles and the playwrights of the last hundred years whose craft seems most influenced by his work. An Appendix at the end of the book provides a short summary of the plots of all nineteen plays.

J. Michael Walton has published and/or edited seven books on classical theatre history and has nine translations of Euripides plays in print, many on the Methuen Drama list. He was professor of Drama at Hull University for many years.

'A useful, reader-friendly introduction aimed at non-specialists, Euripides Our Contemporary offers detailed summaries of Euripides' plays, along with keen observations on their relevance for today's theater. Walton demonstrates how the tragedian's 'shocks to the system' have lost none of their power over the centuries.' * Rush Rehm, author of Radical Theatre: Greek Tragedy and the Modern World * 'In this masterful reevaluation of Euripides, Michael Walton recasts the playwright in light of his resonance for today's translators and directors. Springing from the rehearsal room rather than the page, Walton shows us not only why we are ready for Euripides, but why we so desperately need him.' * Mary Louise Hart, Associate Curator of Antiquities, J. Paul Getty Museum * 'Euripides is very much a relevant voice in our times and Walton has gone to great lengths in his career and in his writing to remind us of that.' * George Kovacs, Comparative Drama, Vol. 44, No. 2, Summer 2010 * 'Walton fashions an image of Euripides as a dynamic and flexible dramatist, one capable of reconsidering earlier themes and characters because he has changed his mind or because he is writing a different play.' * George Kovacs, Comparative Drama, Vol. 44, No. 2, Summer 2010 * 'Walton is an experianced scholar and a perceptive critic of theatre... His easy familiarity with the material and his enthusiasm for the theatrical possibilities that Euripides continues to offer are infectious.' * George Kovacs, Comparative Drama, Vol. 44, No. 2, Summer 2010 * "Walton produces a complete picture of a dynamic and iconoclastic dramatist" * George Kovacs, Comparative Drama, Vol. 44, No. 2, Summer 2010 * 'Walton's light touch and use of "modern" drama as interpretive comparanda (from the point of view of a classicist, anyway) is likely to open new avenues of comparison for both the scholar and theater practitioner.' * George Kovacs, Comparative Drama, Vol. 44, No. 2, Summer 2010 * 'An alternative title for this lively book, written for the general reader and theater practitioners, might have been Why Euripides? Few people are better suited to answer this question than J. Michael Walton, who has worked on this playwright in every way possible: teacher, translator, scholar and director. Walton's book is grounded very firmly in theatrical experience and ...[is a] stimulating and enjoyable work' * Bryn Mawr Classical Review 2011.01.24 *