If by performance we mean the “poetics of remembrance”, since it is there that the playwright’s and the actor’s memory as well as the spectators memory and social memory creatively meet, then the theatre can be called the “art of memory” ( Samuel 1994), reflection and repetitive appearance of the past in the present and, therefore, the timely presence or the timeless past, through which cultural memory (as a collective product) is enclaved inside the individual memory (as a subjective creation) of the viewer with a holistic reference ( Schudson 1989 : 105- 112). Subsequently, the theatre becomes a privileged field of repetition, memory and mnemonic reconstruction of the texts and their performed visualisation ( Malkin 2002), a timely cultural phaenomenon comprising and deriving meaning from the individual memory of the viewer, as well as the collective memory of the audience, with which it exists in a constant dialogue ( Jardine 2005 ). It is both a metaphorical and literal space where a “trial of memory” occurs, on the instance of the stage act of texts and “writings” of the past, which despite the fact that they took place elsewhere / at another time they make an appearance here/now ( Patsalidis 210:57 ).
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Mnemonic recording of the theatre
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The Transmission and Reception of the Values of the Ancient Greek Culture in Theater via “Digital Dialogue”
Abstract[1]
Our age is characterized by the instantaneous transmission of information and the redefinition of distances and boundaries of human relationships and communication. Theater, as a “sensitive indicator of reality”, does not remain unaffected, but seeks new ways of expressing the “timelessness” and “universality” which brings viewer’s consciousness. Dialogue as a key feature of theater, through the conversation of the actors in the context of the dramatic text, as well as through the bidirectional communication between actors and spectators, influences and is influenced in production, output and reception of the performance, by the introduction of digital media, new technologies, even of Artificial Intelligence. “Old” values such as democracy, equality, equity, freedom and peace find new ways of emerging and updating through dialogue into a new reality between the transmitter and receiver of the “digital age”. The creation and reception of messages is happening with different rhythms and new ways, eliminating the space-time distances and shaping this hybrid form of theater that we call “Digital Drama”.
Key words: dialogue, theatre communication, values, digital drama
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Drama and Theatre in ancient Greece. A database and a spectators’ school.
Abstract
Drama always consisted of an invaluable “database” for the culture and education of the ancient Greek spectators, who used to watch it as a performance that derived from the already existing literary types and forms (epic and lyric poetry) on which it was based and which included up to a certain degree; namely, in Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides’ tragedies and Aristophanes’ comedies, almost all the ideas, the messages, the moral values and the knowledge that constitute the so called “Ancient Greek Thought and Philosophy”, coexistand consist of the values of the ancient Greek culture as a whole. However, these do not represent the accumulation of some valuable material, but the creative conjunction and composition of qualitative and quantitative data in an astonishing analogy and harmony that expresses the basic principles and virtues of the ancient Greek Thought such as Moderation, Harmony, Symmetry, Equilibrium and the correspondence between form and content. This explains why the ancient Greek drama has been characterized by scholars as the “Theatre of Ideas” (Arrowsmith, 1963: 32) and the dramatic poets as “Educators” (Arnott, 1970: 35), since they used the stage in order to criticize their world, to promote the ideas rather than the heroes’ characters in their plays, thus providing an integrated culture and education for their spectators.
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International Theatre Conference “Values of Ancient Greek Theatre Across Space & Time: Cultural Heritage and Memory”
The National and Kapodistrian University of Athens (NKUA) will be hosting the International Conference named Values of Ancient Greek Theatre Across Space & Time: Cultural Heritage and Memory.
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Heinz-Uwe Haus and Theatre Making in Cyprus and Greece
Heinz-Uwe Haus has published a new book, titled Heinz-Uwe Haus and Theatre Making in Cyprus and Greece (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; 405 pages; release date: Sept. 8, 2021). Co-edited by Daniel Meyer-Dinkgräfe and supported by Costas Hadjigeorghiou, the book presents a selection of the considerable amount of material written and published in relation to Haus’s productions of Brecht’s plays and Brechtian productions by other dramatists, especially ancient Greek drama, in Cyprus and Greece since his production of The Caucasian Chalk Circle marked the launch of the Cyprus National Theatre in 1975 after the country’s political turmoil culminating in the Turkish invasion.
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“Popular” and “Highbrow” in the theatre. Cultural interaction and osmosis between the genres*
Popular / Folk theatre
The term “popular theatre” denotes a cultural creation the specific features of which remain constant and characteristic of this theatrical category (Grammatas 2006 : 239-241) despite any changes that might have taken place over the times. Its basic source of origin is the “ritual”, which, though not identical, relates to the concepts of “ritual” and “custom”, and is often used interchangeably in international bibliography (Puchner 1985 : 40).
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