Postgraduate

The Greek theatre

On this page

• What you will study
• Entry
• Qualifications
• If you have a disability or additional requirement
• Study materials
• Teaching and assessment
• Students also studied
• Future availability
• How to register

This course covers the main aspects of ancient Greek theatre, concentrating on Athens in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE, from the tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides to the comedies of Aristophanes and Menander. You’ll relate textual study to staging, compare ancient and modern performance, explore the contemporary socio-political context for drama and take a look at concepts and methods used in studies of the later translation and reception of the plays. You’ll also explore critical approaches to topics such as audience, chorus, gender, humour and theatrical language. You’ll need access to a good library and the internet.

Course facts

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What you will study

The plays selected for study, both tragedy and comedy, are read in translation. You will also consider the main features of the archaeological evidence for Greek theatre, including the representation of performance on painted pottery and figurines, as well as evidence related to the social, religious and political context within which the plays were created and staged. The emphasis is on performance as well as text, and you will be expected to engage with the debates in recent research. In the last few years Greek theatre scholarship has been particularly influenced by comparative anthropology, gender studies and reception theory. Emerging areas include humour theory, the sociology of audience response and the translation issues (verbal and non-verbal) of staging.

The course is structured in five main blocks:

The context of Greek theatre introduces the main kinds of ancient evidence (written and physical) and some of the key debates in modern scholarship. You are asked to investigate the socio-economic, religious and political context of the Athenian dramatic festivals; Athenianism in the theatre; material evidence for the theatre and its practices; ancient audiences; translation and reception of plays.

Aeschylus The set text, The Oresteia, is read with a modern literary commentary. Discussion focuses on the three plays’ relationship to one another, and on how they have been interpreted and staged.

Sophocles The set plays are Ajax and Philoctetes. The refiguration of myth and comparisons of translations are important themes, and there is a section on the use of fragments.

Euripides In this block you are required to consider questions about Euripides’ use of myth, his exploration of contemporary issues and changes in the genre of tragedy. The plays are Hippolytus, Helen and Andromache.

Comedy includes both Old Comedy (Aristophanes) and New Comedy (Menander). You will consider various ways of reading and staging comedy, and assess traditional assumptions about the divide between tragedy and comedy.

The course includes a section on key concepts and issues that is used throughout. Supplementary texts present important written evidence, and there is a selection of offprints from modern scholarship.

You are expected to do a good deal of additional reading, and you will need regular access to a suitable library. Occasional access to the internet is also desirable. If you have no computer at home, you should try to arrange access through a public library, cybercafe or community facility. To help you to plan your work, requirements for library visits or internet use are signposted in advance in the study material.

Entry

To take this course, you must be registered for the MA in Humanities or for another qualification towards which it can count. If you have not taken the classical studies postgraduate foundation course you may need to refer to it in the early stages of A861, especially its Skills section and Library Guide. A861 assumes that you are familiar with the basic investigation and research techniques and the critical use of modern scholarship introduced in the classical studies foundation course, and that you can use them with increasing independence of judgement.

Knowledge of the Greek or Latin language is not necessary, though some would be useful. You should, though, try to be familiar with the Greek alphabet and to recognise key terms, concepts and ideas in transliterated form. Elementary Greek (or Latin) could be valuable for later work, especially for the dissertation course (depending on your topic). We offer introductory Greek and Latin courses at undergraduate level: Reading classical Greek: language and literature (A275) and Reading classical Latin (A297). If you have any doubt about the suitability of the course, please contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service.

Preparatory work

It would be a good idea to familiarise yourself with reference books such as the:

Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd edition) and The Dictionary of Classical Mythology (ed. J. March, Cassell, 1998).

We recommend reading as many Greek plays as you can and, if possible, seeing performances. A useful overview of the extant plays and conditions of production (both ancient and modern) is:

J. Michael Walton (1987) Living Greek Theatre: A Handbook of Classical Performance and Modern Production, Greenwood Press, Westport CT.

The set book The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy also contains valuable introductory material.

Qualifications

A861 is a compulsory module in our:

• MA in Classical Studies (F27)

A861 is an optional module in our:

• Postgraduate Diploma in Humanities (D35)
• MA in Humanities (F07)

If you leave the programme before obtaining a masters degree and have successfully completed an additional 60 credits from modules specified in the MA in Humanities programme, including at least 30 credits from postgraduate foundation modules, this module will qualify you for a Postgraduate Diploma in Humanities.

Some postgraduate qualifications allow study to be chosen from other subject areas. We advise you to refer to the relevant qualification descriptions for information on the circumstances in which this module can count towards these qualifications because from time to time the structure and requirements may change.

If you have a disability or additional requirement

This course makes extensive use of research libraries and may require use of the internet. If you are a new student, or new to study using a computer or the internet, you will need to inform us of your particular needs as soon as possible, as some of our support services may take several weeks to arrange. Details of how to do this and our range of support services are described in our publication Meeting Your Needs.

You can also find information about accessible study materials, financial support and the Disabled Students' Allowance, equipment and other services, on our Services for disabled students website. It also includes our contact details for advice and support both before you register and while you are studying.

Study materials

What's included

Study guide, offprints, other printed materials.

You will need

You must have access to a research library – either a university library or a very large public or private library with a classical studies section. Information will be available about membership of the Institute of Classical Studies library in London. There are likely to be charges for borrowing rights, inter-library loans and photocopying.

Computing requirements

This course includes online computer activities – you can access these using a web browser that can play Flash and Shockwave.

You will need internet access and a computer. If you have purchased a new computer since 2005 it should meet your course computing requirements. Check our Technical Requirements section if your computer is older than this or is otherwise unusual.

Teaching and assessment

Support from your tutor

You will have a tutor who will help you with the study material and mark and comment on your written work, and whom you can ask for advice and guidance. We may be able to offer group tutorials or day schools that you are encouraged, but not obliged, to attend. Where your tutorials are held will depend on the distribution of students taking the course. Contact our Student Registration & Enquiry Service if you want to know more about study with The Open University before you register.

Assessment

The assessment details can be found in the facts box above.

You can choose whether to submit your tutor-marked assignments (TMAs) on paper or online through the eTMA system. You may want to use the eTMA system for some of your assignments but submit on paper for others. This is entirely your choice.

Students also studied

Students who studied this course also studied at some time:

• Postgraduate foundation module in classical studies (A860)
• The classical studies dissertation (A867)
• Exploring the classical world (A219)
• Continuing classical Latin (A397)
• Myth in the Greek and Roman worlds (A330)

Future availability

The details given here are for the course that starts in February 2012. We expect it to be available once a year.

How to register

We regret that we are currently unable to accept registrations for this course. Where the course is to be presented again in the future, relevant registration information will be displayed on this page as soon as it becomes available.

Study explained

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