A Cultural History of Theatre in Antiquity (The Cultural Histories, Book 1)

Theatre was at the very heart of culture in Graeco-Romancivilizations and its influence permeated across social and classboundaries. The theatrical genres of tragedy, comedy, satyr play,mime and pantomime operate in Antiquity alongside the conception oftheatre as both an entertainment for the masses and a vehicle forintellectual, political and artistic expression. Drawing togethercontributions from scholars in Classics and Theatre Studies, thisvolume uniquely examines the Greek and Roman cultural spheres inconjunction with one another rather than in isolation.Each chapter takes a different theme as its focus: institutionalframeworks; social functions; sexuality and gender; the environmentof theatre; circulation; interpretations; communities ofproduction; repertoire and genres; technologies of performance; andknowledge transmission.