Performances of Ancient Greek Tragedy and Hellenikotita: The Making o f a Greek Aesthetic Style of Performance 1919-1967 Ioanna Roilou-Panagodimitrakopoulou M.A. in Theatre Strudies M.A. in Modem Drama Submitted for a Ph.D thesis Department of Theatre Studies Lancaster University March 2003 ProQuest Number: 11003681 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 11003681 Published by ProQuest LLC(2018). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106- 1346 Performances o f Ancient Greek Tragedy and Hellenikotita: The Making o f a Greek Aesthetic Style o f Performance 1919-1967 Ioanna Roilou-Panagodimittakopoulou M.A. in Theatre Studies, M.A. in Modem Drama Submitted for a Ph.D thesis Department a Theatre Studies Lancaster University March 2003 Abstract This t hesis s tudies t he p henomenon o f t he p roduction o ft ragedy i n G reece d uring t he period 1919-1967 in relation to the constitution of Greek culture during this period and the ideologem of hellenikotita. It argues that theatre in Greece through the productions of tragedy proposed an aesthetic framework of performances of tragedy that could be recognised as ‘purely Greek’ within which the styles of productions moved. The whole issue is discussed using Bourdieu’s model of the development of the ‘field of cultural production’. Particularising this model in the field of theatre, the thesis argues that, due to the lack of Greek dramatic plays rich in symbolic capital, the productions of tragedy became the area where the ‘sub-field of theatrical restricted production’ was developed in Greece. This development, however, presupposed that the field of performance had to meet the two crucial challenges that Greek culture faced during this period. The first one consisted of the cultural appropriation of tragedy within the frame of the aesthetic ideology of the capitalist class which claimed the continuity of the Greek nation through the ages placing emphasis on the use of demotiki and the Byzantine and more recent phases of what is considered ‘Greek’ culture.. The second consisted of the unavoidable reference to the European theatrical tradition in such a way that it would lead to styles of performances that could be characterized as ‘purely Greek’ and face Europe as a rival. Both these issues touched heavily on the issue of hellenikotita , which during this period consisted of a principal qualitative criterion to assess the symbolic capital of cultural products. The main argument of the thesis is discussed in relation to the work of five directors, the Sikelianoi, that is, Aggelos Sikelianos and his wife Eva Palmer-Sikelianou, Fotos Politis, Dimitris Rondiris and Karolos Koun. These directors are the main representatives of what is considered in this thesis to be the first and the second phase in the history of the ‘sub-field of restricted theatrical production’ in Greece. It is argued that these directors proposed aesthetic styles of performances renegotiating, on the one hand, the European theatrical tradition in Greek cultural terms and creating, on the other, a ‘Greek’ aesthetic style/s of performance by drawing from the entirety of what was considered to be ‘Greek’ culture. The body of the productions of tragedy during that period in combination with the articles and other material, for example speeches, provided by the directors themselves constitute a discourse on hellenikotita and Greek performance. Within that framework it is argued that Greek theatre through the productions of tragedy participated equally and dynamically as other cultural field in the constitution of Greek culture during that period. ii Acknowledgments This thesis owes its existence to all three of its supervisors. To Keith Sturgess it owes the subject. To Maria Shevtsova it owes the methodology. To Kate Newey it owes its final form and the fact that, at last, it is finished. I am indebted to all three of them but most of all I want to thank Kate Newey, not only for her invaluable advice, but also for her support and her willingness to work along my at times hectic rhythms. She was there when I really needed her. I also want to thank my friend, Associate Professor Katerina Kaleri, who helped me to understand how I should think and express myself as a scientist in a time when I was full of ideas but had no idea of how to put them in order and present them. In addition, I want to thank the Director of the National Theatre, Nikos Kourkoulos for allowing me to study the National Theatre’s Archives. I want especially to thank Dimitris Dimarakis, who was in charge of the National Theatre’s Library and Archives at the time I was researching, for his help and his willingness to provide me with all the material I needed. I also want to thank the K0BE (State Theatre of Northern Greece) and 0OK (Theatrical Organisation of Cyprus) for supplying me with the material of their performances of tragedy that I asked for. Although in the end I did not use it, I intend to use it in future works. Finally I should mention that, unlike the state theatres, the Theatro Technis was unwilling to provide me with the information and material I asked them for. I want to thank my friend, director Eleni Triantafillaki, for the conversations we had on performances of tragedy and for helping me to contact the K0BE. I am also grateful to my friends Androniki Chrysafi and Associate Professor Kostas Valakas for their technical and other support whenever I needed it. Last but not least I want to thank my parents, Professor Minas Roilos and Kaiti Roilou, for being patient and supporting to me during this long journey and my friends Vasso, Ioanna, Vassilia and Graeme for reminding me repeatedly that there are other things in life besides Ph.Ds. All Greek texts are translated by me unless otherwise stated. In the transliteration of Greek names and words I decided to follow Linos Politis’ example and accentuate all names or words that are stressed on their final or antepenultimate syllable, which are not normally accentuated in English language. In regard to the accentuation of the Greek texts I decided to follow the mode of accentuation of the edition from which I was quoting. Thus for a large number of them I used the multi -accentuated system and for the small, as it proved, number of the rest of them the single-accentuated one. In the titles of the books, however, I used the official single-accentuated system so as to have a unified form in the bibliography. Furthermore I followed the spelling of the editions from which I was quoting despite the typographical mistakes that sometimes occurred. Contents Abstract i Acknowledgments iii List of Illustrations vii Introduction 1 Chapter I 29 Aspects of Greek culture from 1900 to 1967: The ideologem of ‘hellenikotita ’ and the constitution of a ‘Greek ’ national culture Chapter II 68 Productions of Greek tragedy and ‘hellenikotita ’: the constitution o f a ‘sub-field of theatrical production ’ and a Greek style o f performance Chapter III 107 Aggelos Sikelianos and Eva Palmer-Sikelianou: Aeschylus’ “Prometheus Bound”, Delphi 1927 Chapter IV 152 Fotos Politis: Aeschylus’ “Persae”, the National Theatre, 1934 v Chapter V Dimitris Rondiris: Sophocles’ “Electra”, the National Theatre, 1936 and the Peiraiko Theatro 1959 as filmed in 1962 Chapter VI Karolos Koun: Aeschylus’ “Persae”, the Theatro Technis, 1965 Conclusions The making o f a ‘Greek ’ aesthetic style ofperformance: Schools and tendencies Bibliography List of Illustrations Chapter I Photo 1, Athanassios Marikos in the part of Constantine the Great in Dimitrios Vemardakis’ Fafsta, from SiSeprjt;, riawri<;, Ioropia t o v Neov EkXrjvncov Oeaxpov 1794-1944 (History of Modern Greek Theatre 1794-1944), vol. I, Athens: EkSooeic; Kaoxavicbxri, 1990, p. 89 Photo 2, Poster of the programme of the “Greek Dramatic Company” of Vonasseras and Alexiadis, Apollo Theatre in Syros 1882, from Si5epr|<;, Tidwriq, Ioropia t o v Neov EXXrjviKov Oeaxpov 1794-1944 (History o f Modern Greek Theatre 1794-1944), vol. I, Athens: EkSooek; Kaoxavicbxri, 1990, p. 65 Photo 3, Athanassios Peridis, in Aristomenis Provelelegios’ The daughter of Lemnos first performed in 1894, from EiSspriq, Tidwriq, Ioropia t o v Neov EXXrjviKov Oeaxpov 1794-1944 (History of Modern Greek Theatre 1794-1944), vol. I, Athens: EkSooek; Kaoxavicbxri, 1990, p. 93 Photo 4, Nikolaos Lekatsas in the part of Hamlet towards the end of the nineteenth century, from £i8spr|<;, Tidwrjq, Icrcopia t o v Neov EXXrjvmov Oeaxpov 1794- 1944 (History o f Modern Greek Theatre 1794-1944), vol. I, Athens: EkSoosk; Kaoxavicbxri, 1990, p. 53 Photo 5, Evagelia Paraskevopoulou in the part of Hamlet towards the end of the nineteenth century, from Ei8£pr|<;, riawr|<;, Ioxopia t o v Neov EXkr\viKOV Oeaxpov 1794-1944 (History of Modern Greek Theatre 1794-1944), vol. I, Athens: Ek8ooek; Kaoxavicbxri, 1990, p.53 Photo 6, The theatre company of Dionyssios Tavoularis in Alexandre Doumas’ The Actor Kean, from £i5epr|c;, Tiawriq, Ioropia rov Neov EXXrjvucov Oeaxpov 1794-1944 (History of Modern Greek Theatre 1794-1944), vol. I, Athens: EkSooek; Kaoxavicbxri, 1990, p. 145 Chapter II Photo 7, Evagelia Paraskevopoulou in the part of Medea, from Ei8epr|<;, Tidwriq, To apxaio eXlrjviKO deaxpo oxrj vea eXXrjvucri mcrjvfj 1817-1932 (Ancient Greek Theatre on the Modern Greek stage, 1817-1932), Athens: 'Iicapoq, 1976, p.