Honors Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Capstone/Thesis
Faculty Advisor
Director: Dr. Niamh O'Leary; Readers: Dr. Rebecca Muich, Dr. Jo Ann Recker; Course Director: Dr. Shannon Hogue
Date
2015-4
Abstract
Tragedy purposefully engages an audience and does not merely entertain. Its six inherent components include: character, diction, thought, spectacle and song. Aristotle’s position is that the text in and of itself should be strong, complete and able to stand on its own. According to Aristotle, the inferior additions of stagecraft and spectacle do not greatly add to the dramatic potential already evident in the poetry.
A fully-realized, Attic, tragic production will provide valuable insight into the intricacies of stagecraft and spectacle. This insight allows readers to appreciate the meticulous details of constructing a piece of performance art that doesn’t deal solely with words on the page. The driving purpose behind this thesis is not an egocentric odyssey which will allow me to direct, design and reconstruct a complete tragedy by myself. Rather, the deconstruction of an Attic tragedy allows us to more fully engage with a drama not solely through its textual intricacies but also through its physical aspects. After all, the words on the page do not adequately encapsulate a complete tragic production and the cathartic elements that accompany live theatre.
Recommended Citation
Spindler, Alexander J., "The Art of the Stage Machinist: A Dramatic Reconstruction of Aeschylus’ Linear Tragedy, Prometheus Bound" (2015). Honors Bachelor of Arts. 3.
https://www.exhibit.xavier.edu/hab/3
Creative Commons License
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Included in
Ancient History, Greek and Roman through Late Antiquity Commons, Ancient Philosophy Commons, Classical Literature and Philology Commons
