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British literature History and criticism Classical drama Classical literature Drama, Medieval History and criticism English literature Middle English, 1100-1500 Europe Antiquities Irish literature History and criticism Literature, Medieval Theater Production and direction Theaters Stage-setting and sceneryFilter By Subjects
British literature History and criticism Classical drama Classical literature Drama, Medieval History and criticism English literature Middle English, 1100-1500 Europe Antiquities Irish literature History and criticism Literature, Medieval Theater Production and direction Theaters Stage-setting and scenerySummary: They gave their names to some of the most memorable plays in Western history, and, thousands of years later, they are still very much a presence in contemporary culture. Who were the women of classical Greek drama? In this program, the presentation of powerful women in Medea, Antigone, and Lysistrata is contrasted with the circumscribed role of women in Athenian society by Princeton...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This production is part of the historic 1998 staging of the Corpus Christi Cycle in York, England, and captures the majesty and color of the original 14th- to 16th-century plays. Sponsored by the Company of Butchers, performed on a story wagon on the streets of York amidst an enraptured crowd, and using medieval materials and techniques, the performance strives for authenticity. The affecting...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: Since their appearance in Europe some 300 years ago, the stories of The Thousand and One Nights have entranced Western readers with visions of an exotic, magical Middle East. In this program, actor and director Richard E. Grant revisits the book he loved as a child and seeks to understand its persistent hold on the collective imagination. Grant travels to Paris to discover how the Arabist...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2011
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Summary: Bearer of an almost unspeakable, immutable fate, Oedipus yet feels himself a man chosen-that is, favored-by the gods. Now an old man, blind and outcast, Oedipus wanders through Greece guided by his daughter Antigone until he comes to Colonus, where he knows he will die. Protected by the ruler of Thebes against the armies of Creon who have come in pursuit, he curses his son Polynices for...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: When Death comes to take Everyman to his final judgment, Everyman attempts to bribe Death-and when that fails, Everyman instead tries to find a companion to accompany him on the fearful journey. In this adaptation of The Summoning of Everyman by Douglas Morse, a cast of classically trained actors, period music, opulent costumes, and captivating cinematography breathe new life into an enduring...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2009
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Summary: This is the stunning Kennedy Center production of Euripides' great classic about a woman driven by emotion beyond the brink of rationality. With Zoe Caldwell as Medea and Judith Anderson as the nurse. The English text is by Robinson Jeffers.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Sophocles often won the leading prize at the Dionysia, the principal dramatic festival of Athens; but Oedipus the King was a runner-up, winner of the second prize. Posterity, however, considers the play second to none. The play tells the beginning of the Oedipus saga, setting the stage and creating the characters who will continue the story to its conclusion in Antigone. With Michael...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: This program covers the purpose, design, and uses of the ekkyklema for showing the victims and perpetrators of off-stage violence; the deus ex machina, a crane mechanism to suspend gods above the stage; Charonian steps, for ghosts from the underworld; and other means of entrance and exit. It also explains the reasons for New Comedy, its audience, and its physical requirements.
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: In the 50 years separating Aeschylus from the later works of Euripides, theater changed: plays had been performed in honor of the god Dionysus and for the enjoyment of spectators; now they were targeted at spectators who took pleasure in the spectacle itself. Where once the text itself set the stage and described the scene, sets came into use-at first to stimulate imagination, later to imitate...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This program looks at the theatres of Herodus Atticus, Epidauros, Corinth (where Arion is said to have taught the dithyramb), and many others to explain the design of the ancient theater, the synthesis of art forms that was ancient Greek drama, the origins of tragedy, the audience in classical times, the comparative roles of writer/director and actors, and the use of the surrounding landscape...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Antigone is perhaps the most easily accessible of all the great classical tragedies, its theme clear and up-to-date: the conflict between moral and political law. Now the tale of Oedipus and his family comes to its end-he, his wife Jocasta, his sons, and now, at the last, his daughter, all dead. Antigone is not the only victim in the play; Creon too comes to a tragic downfall-although he...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005
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Summary: Beginning with the most rudimentary of theaters-an open plot of ground which the Greeks called a theatron or "seeing space"-this program illustrates in stunning detail how that idea evolved over the centuries. Professor Richard Beacham of King's College London guides viewers through the Theatre of Epidaurus and the Lycurgian, Hellenistic, and Roman manifestations of the Theatre of Dionysus. The...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2006
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Summary: This definitive program traces the development of medieval drama, from Hildegard von Bingen's musical morality play Ordo Virtutum (The Ritual of the Virtues) to the seminal Everyman. Featuring extended excerpts from these influential works, as well as from The Second Shepherd's Play and the 1998 staging of the Mystery Cycle in York, England, the video also establishes the genre's socioreligious...
Format: software, multimedia
Publisher / Publication Date: Films Media Group 2005