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There is no abstract available for this thesis.

In this dissertation, I approach the interpretation of a classical text in performance by examining the practical elements (directorial and design choices: set, costumes, lighting, music, etc.) and promotional materials (programmes, press releases, photographs, etc.) for a selection of significant test cases in order to determine how these production decisions engage with external factors of political, intellectual, and cultural import. Trojan Women is a particularly useful case study to explore within the parameters of this method because the dynamism and immediacy of the play is most powerfully articulated when production choices allow for it to be wielded as a weapon of protest or reaction against contemporary policy, especially the waging of war. Using a chronological approach, this analysis of Trojan Women as a text for performance provides a broad and in-depth discussion of the reception of the play in the twentieth century, the period in which the ancient text was most frequently performed. Through the investigation of several influential productions on the international stage, and through an examination of the roles of key players (particularly Gilbert Murray and Jean-Paul Sartre), Trojan Women emerges as a play that offers theatre artists a unique and effective forum for debating issues of human responsibility in times of war a central theme in the play and a considerable preoccupation during a century of armed conflict. Chapter One discusses how the play was used to criticize imperial activity and promote ideological causes in the first half of the century. Chapters Two and Three draw attention to a major cluster of performances reflecting the spirit of international war protest in the 1960s and 1970s. Chapter Four addresses productions of the play affected by delayed responses to the Holocaust. Chapter Five features performances in the 1990s that respond to crises of civil conflict and genocide.

Call number: LD2668 .T4 1948 M35 / Master of Science

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The purpose of this project was to determine if it was possible to take Shakespeare's text and, preserving the language, present it in a way which would make it more accessible to a modern audience. It was also important to maintain the appropriate acting style and technique that distinguishes classical acting.

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This dissertation undertakes to examine the dramatic prixis and the ideological systems which shape Voltaire’s tragic oeuvre. This study takes the position that these texts are multi-voiced, open-ended and performance-directed. The analytical approach taken draws from semiotic, Marxist and feminist critical techniques. Thirteen plays were chosen for analysis: "Artémire" (1720), "Hérode et Mariamne" (1724, 1725, 1763), "Eriphile" (1732), "Zaïre" (1732), "Adélaïde du Guesclin" (1734, 1751, 1765), "Zulime" (1740, 1762), "Mahomet" (1741), "Sémiramis" (1748), "Oreste" (1750), "Rome sauvée" (1752), "Olympie" (1760), "Le Triumvirat" (1764) and "Les Guèbres" (1769). Chapter I undertakes the analysis of the textual codes, largely concentrating on the language which resulted from or which perisisted despite external reaction to the text, in order to reconstruct the rules by which language operated in the tragic form. Tragedy's requirement of "noble" language and action restrict it to those who had the classical education necessary to understand and manipulate its rules, thereby establishing a gender and class privilege within the text. Chapter II begins with the premise that performance is not external or incidental but integral to the texts under examination. It details the impact which performance and performers had on the text and on public response to that text. It also brings to light Voltaire's profound ambivalence towards this influence on "his" texts. The desire to control performance led Voltaire to become a "director" of his plays in the modern sense, as he sought to impose his ideas of decor, costume, staging and declamation. Chapter III defines ideology as the system or systems of belief which underlie and inform the texts. The analysis is organized around three broad areas of social organization: government, religion and the family. Special attention is paid to the status and treatment of women within these areas. The chapter examines whether the systems revealed are static or dynamic over time, personal to Voltaire or drawn from a wider social group, radical or conservative in content. The Appendix to this study furnishes a chronological table of textual transformations for each play studied, giving the source, location, date, extent, speaker, content and function of changes.

This dissertation undertakes to examine the dramatic prixis and the ideological systems which shape Voltaire’s tragic oeuvre. This study takes the position that these texts are multi-voiced, open-ended and performance-directed. The analytical approach taken draws from semiotic, Marxist and feminist critical techniques. Thirteen plays were chosen for analysis: "Artémire" (1720), "Hérode et Mariamne" (1724, 1725, 1763), "Eriphile" (1732), "Zaïre" (1732), "Adélaïde du Guesclin" (1734, 1751, 1765), "Zulime" (1740, 1762), "Mahomet" (1741), "Sémiramis" (1748), "Oreste" (1750), "Rome sauvée" (1752), "Olympie" (1760), "Le Triumvirat" (1764) and "Les Guèbres" (1769). Chapter I undertakes the analysis of the textual codes, largely concentrating on the language which resulted from or which perisisted despite external reaction to the text, in order to reconstruct the rules by which language operated in the tragic form. Tragedy's requirement of "noble" language and action restrict it to those who had the classical education necessary to understand and manipulate its rules, thereby establishing a gender and class privilege within the text. Chapter II begins with the premise that performance is not external or incidental but integral to the texts under examination. It details the impact which performance and performers had on the text and on public response to that text. It also brings to light Voltaire's profound ambivalence towards this influence on "his" texts. The desire to control performance led Voltaire to become a "director" of his plays in the modern sense, as he sought to impose his ideas of decor, costume, staging and declamation. Chapter III defines ideology as the system or systems of belief which underlie and inform the texts. The analysis is organized around three broad areas of social organization: government, religion and the family. Special attention is paid to the status and treatment of women within these areas. The chapter examines whether the systems revealed are static or dynamic over time, personal to Voltaire or drawn from a wider social group, radical or conservative in content. The Appendix to this study furnishes a chronological table of textual transformations for each play studied, giving the source, location, date, extent, speaker, content and function of changes. / Arts, Faculty of / French, Hispanic, and Italian Studies, Department of / Graduate

The role of Claudius in Shakespeare's The Tragedy of Hamlet has traditionally been affixed with the label of villain, coupled with a presumption of malice. This prejudice has plagued the role, relegating it to shallow melodrama throughout the majority of the play's 440 odd-year history. Although it has now become more commonplace to see him portrayed as a capable, intelligent, even initially likable king, this has only been the case for the past 50 years or so, and even so the label of villain and the assumption of malice persist and prevail even in contemporary practice. While the author is reluctant to insist on the benevolence of the King as imperative, they do contend that Claudius should not be portrayed as a villain. Doing so undermines the primary conflict - that of Hamlet vs. Claudius - cripples the possibilities for exploration of the King as a role, hinders the potential for Hamlet's journey, and absolves the viewer of active engagement by playing directly into expectations. Within this thesis, consideration of historical analysis and editorial tradition are utilized in order to demonstrate a progressively encompassing disregard that has led to the role's neglect. An account of the 2006 University of Central Florida Conservatory Theatre production is used to validate the necessity of avoiding a villainous portrayal of the King. A brief description of the author's ideal Claudius explores the realm of possibility opened by such non-villainous portrayal, and potential for the role's complexity is examined through a thorough voice/text analysis and brief discussion of Jaques Lecoq's movement equilibrium theory via appendices.