The play of space. Spatial transformation in Greek Tragedy

In this book Rush Rehm offers an approach to the spatial parameters of Greek tragedy performed in the open-air theatre of Dionysus. Emphasising the interplay between natural place and fictional setting, Rehm argues for an ecology of the ancient theatre, one that "nests" fifth century theatrical space within other social, political and religious spaces of Athens.Drawing on James J. Gibson and Michel Foucault, Rehm crosses several disciplines - classics, theatre studies, archaeology, cultural studies, performance theory - to analyse the phenomenology of space and its transformations in the plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides. His discussion of Athenian theatrical and social practice challenges the view that space represents a "text" to be read, or constitutes a site of structural dualities. Chapters on specific tragedies explore the spatial dynamics of homecoming and exile; the power of the bodies in extremis to transform their theatrical environment; the tragic intentions of space and temporality; and the portrayal of characters on the margin. An appendix compares ancient theories of space to the later views of Descartes, Leibniz, Newton and Einstein.