Catharsis, Trauma and War in Greek Tragedy: an Inquiry Into the Therapeutic Potential of Greek Tragedy with Special Reference to the Female Experience
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CATHARSIS, TRAUMA AND WAR IN GREEK TRAGEDY: AN INQUIRY INTO THE THERAPEUTIC POTENTIAL OF GREEK TRAGEDY WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE FEMALE EXPERIENCE By Peggy Shannon, B.A., M.F.A. Egham, England, 2014 A thesis Presented to Royal Holloway College/University of London in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Program of Drama and Theatre Egham, England Peggy Shannon September 2014 1 i. Declaration of Authorship I, Peggy Shannon hereby declare that this thesis and the work presented in it is entirely my own. Where I have consulted the work of others, this is always clearly stated. Signed: ___________________________________________________ September 1, 2014 Date: _____________________________________________________ 2 Table of Contents i. Declaration of Authorship………………………………………………... 2 ii. Abstract…………………………………………………………………… 4 iii. Acknowledgments………………………………………………………… 5 I. Chapter One: Introduction……………………………………………….. 6 II. Chapter Two: The Debate about the Cathartic Function of Theatre……… 23 III. Chapter Three: The Paradox, Power, and Performance of Trauma……… 51 IV. Chapter Four: War, Trauma, and Gender …….………………………….. 82 V. Chapter Five: Female Characters as Surrogates for Male Trauma.............. 108 VI. Chapter Six: Primary and Secondary Trauma and Gender-Based Implications. 156 VII. Chapter Seven: Reading trauma and gender roles in Velina Hasu Houston’s The Intuition of Iphigenia and Judith Thompson’s Elektra in Bosnia………… 176 VIII. Chapter Eight: Looking To The Future…………………………………….. 212 VIV. Bibliography……………………………………………………………… 230 X. Appendix A: Female artists engaging with Greek tragedy in modernity… 250 XI. Appendix B: A partial list of mental health researchers utilising poetry, text, and narrative engagement in a range of treatment options for psychological trauma……………………………………………………. 253 XII. Appendix C: Original interviews with theatre practitioners ……………. 257 a. Annie Castledine………………………………………………………. 260 b. Sara Sherif Farouq Ahmed ………………………………………… 263 c. Velina Hasu Houston………………………………………………….. 265 d. Lydia Koniordou………………………………………………… …… 271 e. Marianne McDonald and Athol Fugard……………………………….. 274 g. Roula Pateraki…………………………………………………………. 291 h. Corinna Seeds…………………………………………………………. 294 i. Theodora Skipitares………………………………………………….… 299 j. Timberlake Wertenbaker………………………………………………. 303 XIII Appendix D: Timeline of major contemporary wars……………………. 305 XIV. Appendix E: The Women & War Project Paper Questionnaire and Data. 309 XV. Appendix F: The Women & War Photo Exhibition…………………….. 315 3 ii. Abstract My research applies ancient Greek drama as a lens to examine gender, war, and the potential for catharsis and emotional healing through narrative engagement and situational recognition. Three modernised ancient Greek plays representing a multi-national approach to live performance serve as Case Studies. They include: Velina Hasu Houston’s The Intuition of Iphigenia, Judith Thompson’s Elektra in Bosnia, and Timberlake Wertenbaker’s Ajax in Afghanistan. I investigate whether performances of Greek tragedy remain capable of producing cathartic affect in spectators. My research questions the nature of war-related traumatic experiences for contemporary women and how these experiences have been represented in new productions of ancient Greek plays during a backdrop of war. By interrogating a link between the ancient characters and contemporary women in and around war, I am able to argue that Iphigenia’s ‘sacrifice’, Elektra and Clytemnestra’s hunger for retribution, Athena’s decision to punish Ajax by ‘scrambling his brain’, and Tecmessa’s secondary trauma as the spouse of a soldier suffering PTSD serve as effective models for the examination of contemporary trauma experienced by women. I argue that the cathartic and therapeutic potential of Greek tragedy remains viable in modernity. Zeitlin’s theory of ‘emotional surrogacy’, Street’s theory of ‘primary trauma’, Dekel’s theory of ‘secondary trauma’, and Shay’s theory of ‘situational recognition’ frame my investigation. 4 iii. Acknowledgments In my first meeting with David Wiles, I recall making a very naïve statement. When he explained the process of researching and writing a doctoral thesis, I remarked that it sounded straight forward enough and should be manageable despite my full-time job, parenting of two children, and living in another country. He smiled politely and remarked that he found my research topic interesting and worth pursuing but that conducting the necessary research and writing the thesis “would not be easy.” He was, of course, right. There has been nothing easy about researching and writing this thesis. My major gratitude is to David Wiles for his patient and steady guidance and his timely response to all material submitted to him. He has been an excellent teacher and mentor. I would also like to acknowledge Edith Hall who offered guidance for two years and Gilli Bush-Bailey, my advisor for five years. I am grateful to both of these women. I would like to thank Corinna Seeds for her on-going support and advice over the years. She has listened to and encouraged my ideas, always willing to read early drafts and provide comment. I would like to thank Larry Vanderhoef for suggesting – and then insisting - that I pursue doctoral studies. I extend my gratitude to Velina Hasu Houston, Judith Thompson, and Timberlake Wertenbaker for their participation in The Women & War Project as playwrights and artistic collaborators. Their involvement provoked a number of engaged and lively discussions that fuelled my research in unexpected ways. I have also benefited from conversations with Theresa Larkin, Cynthia Ashperger, Carey Perloff, Candice Monson, Marianne Fedunkiw and Rahul Sapra. I am indebted to Ryerson University for its support of my doctoral studies. To my family, Isaiah and Aliyah El-Amin, I owe tremendous gratitude for encouraging me to never give up. 5 Chapter 1: Introduction So much about ancient Greek drama is contestable that rules seem irrelevant. It’s like the depths are calling. There is magic in that expanse of chaos. As a child the tales felt uplifting, adventurous and far off – both in space and time. At this point, I embrace that magic as part of the chaotic state of existence. Maybe other people do too. --Sara Sherif Farouq Ahmed1 Does classical Greek drama serve as an effective medium through which to interrogate gender, war, and conflict-related trauma? Equally, does Greek drama lend itself to contemporary efficacy, specifically the cathartic effect of theatre? Are there theoretical reasons for and possible benefits of engagement with ancient Greek tragedy as a “passageway” into understanding the effects of trauma, resultant upon contemporary warfare? These questions will guide the direction of this research, which, in its entirety, will interrogate the critical roles trauma and catharsis play in the onstage representation of trauma carried by female characters in ancient Greek tragedy. Specifically, this thesis will focus on a reading of ancient Greek tragedies in performance that take their cue from trauma studies and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) therapies. I will conduct research at the intersection of theatre practice, psychotherapy, war history, and critical work on trauma and literary theory. By investigating theories of catharsis, trauma, and narrative engagement and applying these theories to three Case Studies, I hope to discover if modernised ancient Greek tragedies in performance can effectively represent trauma-induced experiences resulting from war, and if so examine whether ‘situational recognition’ may assist in de- stigmatising and assisting with the healing of certain trauma. The three productions I have selected as case studies offer interpretations of plays by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides set 1 See Appendix C for the text of my full interview with theatre director Sara Sherif Farouq Ahmed of Egypt. 6 in current and historical wars. All are adaptations by significant female playwrights representing various cultural and literary points of view, and all three share a focus on the female experience of war. For the past forty years, female theatre artists on at least four continents have used ancient Greek plays to examine the role(s) of women in the context of warfare and diplomacy. They have created theatre productions that have thematically explored, among other things, the ethics of conflict, barbarism, PTSD, apartheid, rape, Atomic bombings, ‘the disappeared’, and the overall collateral damage of war on female combatants, wives, mothers, and children.2 Corinna Seeds, executive director of Hydrama Theatre & Arts Centre in Greece has suggested “we are now all willingly – or unwillingly – involved in wars that we largely do not understand…(and) as artists we feel a responsibility to express our feelings about these wars. The ancient Greek plays…offer a structure through which to examine the reasons for and the consequences of warmongering. They are no longer plays just for reading.”3 These productions have occurred in theatres and community centres before the general public. Up until the mid- 1990s, representations of war trauma occurred in two discreet spheres: that of public performance and that of private therapy. The former offered spectators the opportunity to view characters carrying war-related themes and “conflicts, inner turmoil and failings of humans”4 while the latter provided therapy for patients experiencing the traumatic effects of war. With the publication