Adaptation, Re-contextualisation, and Metaphor: Auteur Directors and the Staging of Greek Tragedy

The multiple encounters between ancient Greek drama and postmodern performance have generated heated discussion among artists, theatre scholars and critics vis-à-vis the notions of interpretation and authorship. This article investigates the application of metaphor in contemporary performance and discusses strategies of re-contextualisation in noted adaptations of the Greeks, bringing to light the efficacy as well as potential dangers of fundamentally revisionist directorial choices. It also explores ways in which the dynamic combination of universal reference and specific cultural codification in performance allows the mise-en-scène to reconcile the two ends in the ever polarised set of fraught terms—and practices—of “fidelity” and innovation within the framework of adaption.