After 2500 years, Ancient Greek Drama still fascinates modern audiences. In this course students will explore the interactions between the ancient and modern. By reading ancient Greek plays or poems and reading or viewing a modern play or film based on the ancient, students will discuss the themes and ideas prevalent in the ancient, how these are treated in the modern versions, and why these ancient themes still appeal to dramatists, cinematographers and their audiences. The modern versions are selected for the thought-provoking perspectives they provide on their ancient forerunners. These will include selections from Homer’s Iliad, Sophocles’ Oedipus cycle and Euripides’ Medea and Hippolytus (featuring Phaedra), and modern dramatic or cinematic renditions by Anouilh, Marcel Camus, Dassin, Pasolini, Peterson and Wise.
