This thesis posits a dialogue between ancient Greek and modern English theatres and gives evidence of this dialogue by relating Merent aspects of modem theatre to the recent performance reception in England of specific Greek texts or images which are concerned with women possessed of or by some extraordinary power. Chapter I opens with an account of the aims and scope of the thesis, and discusses some of the problems of translating ancient Greek tragedies onto modem English stages. Each of the following chapters examines some aspect of late twentiethcentury English theatre in relation to its reception through performance of a Greek original text or theme. Chapter 2 deals with changes in English theatre over the last three decades, as reflected by versions of the Bacchae. Chapter 3 is about the role of the actress in performing Medea. Chapter 4 discusses how playwrights have translated for theatre some ancient Greek myths concerning women and sex. Chapter 5 considers the use of Antigone in the field of drama in education, and Chapter 6, the part women theatre practitioners have played in translating Greek drama into English theatres, with special reference to two productions of 'anti-war' plays: the Royal National Theatre's Women of Troy and the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Phoenician Women. The final section of the last chapter reflects on the way the anxieties of male creators and consumers of Greek tragedies about women with power have been interpreted in English theatres, and the importance of the study of reception through performance for scholars working on the original texts.

The study of medieval acoustics has been centred on places of worship, leaving aside sites used for secular drama. This thesis explores the importance of integrating medieval drama into the historiography of the acoustics of performances spaces through the study of the York Mystery Plays. The York Mystery Plays were performed regularly from the late fourteenth century up to 1569 and have been the subject of numerous research studies. However, the consideration of the acoustics of the performance spaces as an essential means of gaining a further understanding of the staging and performance of the plays has, for the most part, been absent from previous studies. This thesis uses virtual acoustics to study Stonegate, one of the performance sites used in medieval times. To apply virtual acoustics to the study of the plays acoustic measurements of Stonegate are conducted and analysed through room acoustic parameters. A virtual model of the same space is then simulated and calibrated using the on-site measurements as a reference and its accuracy is also checked through listening tests. The virtual model of modern Stonegate is then modified in order to create different simulations of the site in the sixteenth century, which are then used to test different staging hypotheses developed by early drama scholars. The acoustics of Stonegate are shown to have been suitable for the spoken extracts of the plays, due to its low reverberation time and high clarity. However, these characteristics are more challenging for the performance of music. Nevertheless, research has shown that the resulting spatial impression is comparable to that associated with music performances in concert halls. Furthermore, future research of the acoustics of other medieval sites in York may help to further the understanding of how the performances spaces and the plays were experienced.

This thesis examines the politics of privacy and the public drama of the English Renaissance commercial stage. It intervenes in the study of publics and the early modern public sphere, contending that a wider examination of the corpus of public drama in the English Renaissance can illuminate the politics of privacy as well as the nature of dramatic practice. The thesis is split into two parts. The first examines external evidence – the ways in which the language of privacy is applied to the commercial theatre – and contains a single chapter on the emergence of the so-called ‘private’, indoor playhouses. It is divided into three main sections that explore the Elizabethan, Jacobean, and Caroline periods and a short epilogue which considers the period of theatre closure. The second part examines internal evidence: how the plays of the period configure political privacy. It falls into two chapters, each of which contemplates four different forms of movement across public/private boundaries. The second chapter addresses depictions of private people participating in public affairs; analysing representations of private passivity, active resistance, promotion, and favouritism. The third chapter investigates the reverse phenomenon – public people becoming private – and discusses portrayals of corruption, privation, surveillance, and withdrawal.