. The Greek theater and its drama. se. The mostdifficult example of this problem has recently come to light in thefragments of Euripides Hypsipyle, vss. 15795.^ The heroineand Amphiaraus converse from the beginning of the fragment tovs. 1589, where the latter makes his exit. Two Hnes of farewell(vss. 1590 f.) are addressed to him and are assigned by thepapyrus to the children of Hypsipyle. Moreover, they areof such a nature that one line must have been spoken by eachof the two youths. Next, one of them converses with his motheruntil Thoas, who also has a speaking part, appears at vs. 1632. Cf.
. The Greek theater and its drama. se. The mostdifficult example of this problem has recently come to light in thefragments of Euripides Hypsipyle, vss. 15795.^ The heroineand Amphiaraus converse from the beginning of the fragment tovs. 1589, where the latter makes his exit. Two Hnes of farewell(vss. 1590 f.) are addressed to him and are assigned by thepapyrus to the children of Hypsipyle. Moreover, they areof such a nature that one line must have been spoken by eachof the two youths. Next, one of them converses with his motheruntil Thoas, who also has a speaking part, appears at vs. 1632. Cf. Devrient, Das Kind auf der antiken Biihne (1904).* Cf. Oxyrhynchus Papyri, VI (1908), 69. i8o THE GREEK THEATER AND ITS DRAMA Here, then, if the childrens parts are taken by actors we havefour actors required in two successive scenes. The only alter-native lies in supposing that mutes impersonated the boys andthat Thoas actor, already dressed for his introit at vs. 1632,spoke their lines from behind the scenes. This would include. Fig. 67.—Distribution of Roles to Actors in Sophocles Oedipus at Colonus twelve lines for one youth and one line, in a different voice, forthe other. But the most intractable play of all is Sophocles Oedipus atColonus. Antigone and Oedipus are on the stage continuouslyfor the first eight hundred and forty-seven verses (the latter untilvs. 1555), while the third actor appears successively as a stranger,Ismene, Theseus, and Creon (Fig. 67). So far there is no diffi-culty; but at this point Creon hopes to bring Oedipus to time THE INFLUENCE OF ACTORS l8l by announcing that his guards have already seized Ismene (off-scene) and by having them now drag Antigone away. Creonthreatens to carry off Oedipus as well, but at vs. 887 Theseusreappears and prevents further outrage. Note, however, thatif only three actors were available Theseus must now be imper-sonated by Antigones actor, whereas previously he was repre-sented by the actor who is now playing Creon
Size: 1657px × 1507px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublisherchicagouniversityo
