Banging the Lyre: The Classical Plays of Tony Harrison by Hallie Rebecca Marshall A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Comparative Literature) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) March 2010 ©Hallie Rebecca Marshall, 2009 Abstract British poet Tony Harrison (b. 1937) is the most significant English verse playwright of the second half of the twentieth century and an important figure in the reception of classical literature on the British stage. This dissertation explores Harrison’s classical plays in relationship to their Greek and Latin models, positioning them amidst his other poetic works, and examining their cultural and historical contexts. The intent of this study is to examine these plays from a number of perspectives: intertexuality, exploring the ways in which Harrison engages with both classical literature and his own non-dramatic poetry; genre, arguing that Harrison uses not only Greek tragedy as a model, but also the other fifth-century dramatic genres of satyr play and Old Comedy, as well as nondramatic poetry, such as Latin epigrams; social and political contexts, establishing the importance of Harrison’s socio-economic and educational background in understanding the form and content of his dramatic verse, and exploring the ways in which he engages with a range of modern political issues, from the British class system to historical and contemporary military conflicts; performance, discussing Harrison’s interpretation and appropriation of fifth-century Athenian performance conventions, such as masks, as well as the influence that collaborators have had on the development of his unique theatrical style; and reception, articulating Harrison’s place within the history of the performance of English verse translations on the twentieth- century British stage, associating his work with the productions of translations by Gilbert Murray, differentiating his work from the classical adaptations of T.S. Eliot, and arguing that he is directly responsible for the recent forays into classical drama by other prominent poets, such as Seamus Heaney and Ted Hughes. Conclusions are drawn that what Harrison finds of value within the extant corpus of ancient literature is not the elite values of high culture in which a knowledge of Latin and ancient Greek functions as a shibboleth separating the classes (as had been the case until the post-World War II era in Britain), but a model for creating public poetry for the late-twentieth century. ii Table of contents Abstract .........................................................................................................................ii Table of contents ..........................................................................................................iii Chapter 1: a poet and his poems in their place............................................................1 Overview.....................................................................................................................1 Biography I: class, language, and education.................................................................6 Historical Context II: classical drama, class, and education .........................................7 Biography II: education, class divisions, and career opportunities..............................10 Historical context III: reception of classical drama, class, and education....................13 Biography III: language, family, and early career ......................................................22 Historical context IV: classical drama in the early twentieth century..........................27 Biography IV: plays, language, and ideology.............................................................37 Chapter 2: The Oresteia ..............................................................................................48 Chapter 3: The Trackers of Oxyrhynchus...................................................................90 Chapter 4: The Kaisers of Carnuntum and The Labourers of Herakles................... 130 The Kaisers of Carnuntum....................................................................................... 131 Herakles/Hercules in The Kaisers of Carnuntum ..................................................... 145 The Labourers of Herakles ...................................................................................... 151 Herakles in The Labourers of Herakles.................................................................... 163 Chapter 5: Tony Harrison and Old Comedy .......................................................... 170 Chapter 6: classical plays and verse drama in the 20th century .............................. 214 Bibliography.............................................................................................................. 233 iii Acknowledgements Over the course of the completion of this thesis I have incurred huge debts to numerous people. First and foremost I offer my gratitude to my supervisory committee who provided me with support and encouragement at every step in the process. Thanks to John Xiros Cooper for not turning me away when I came knocking on his door looking for a supervisor, even though I was not a student in his department. And special thank yous are owed to Errol Durbach and Tony Dawson who continued to serve on my committee after they had retired. The support of my committee went far beyond what could reasonably be expected and they provided me with a model of supportive and collegial mentorship which has become increasingly rare in a university atmosphere that places no value on the time consuming task of not only guiding students towards ever better research, but also towards becoming academics who will be caring and compassionate mentors for the next generation. My gratitude is also extended to: Steven Taubeneck, who has managed to keep the Comparative Literature Programme afloat despite institutional neglect; Judith Fletcher, who assisted in the setting and marking of my comprehensive exams; Susanna Braund for her support and encouragement; Mary Louise Hart for suggesting I attend the Symposium on Ancient Drama in Delphi; Trish Montemuro for making time to share her experiences of working with Tony Harrison with me and for giving me access to her private papers; Annette Stenning for the lunches and discussion about theatre and other things; and Ken, Tiffany, and Sloane for dinner every second week. Thanks and love is owed to my parents who raised their eyebrows when I said that I wanted to study Greek and Latin, but who continued to help me pay tuition and supported me unfailingly. Hugs and kissed go to Jonah who serves as a constant reminder that there are far more important things in life than my work. And there are not words enough to express what is owed to Toph who has loved me, supported me, and encouraged me every step of the way. A special thanks is owed to Tony Harrison for his generosity and kindness, as well as for the joy that his poetry has given me. Financial support for my research, for which I am immensely grateful, was provided by the Faculty of Graduate Studies at UBC and The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, as well as travel grants and support provided by the Classical Association of Canada, The Classical Association (UK), The Women’s Classical Caucus, the Department of Classics at the University of Cork, and The European Cultural Centre of Delphi. iv for my family the ones we choose to love become our anchor v Chapter 1: a poet and his poems in their place Each swung cast-iron Enoch of Leeds stress clangs a forged music on the frames of Art, the looms of owned language smashed apart! From ‘On Not Being Milton’1 Overview This thesis seeks to examine the classical plays of Tony Harrison, exploring their relationship to classical models, positioning them amidst his other poetic works, examining their cultural and historical contexts, and demonstrating their place in the life and work of the poet. Harrison is one of the most passionate and articulate voices in the English-speaking world advocating for the value and relevance of classical literature, and fifth-century Athenian drama in particular. But what Harrison finds of value within the extant corpus of ancient literature is not the elite values of high culture in which knowledge of Latin and ancient Greek functions as a shibboleth separating the classes. Instead Harrison promulgates a view of classical literature as popular culture, and classical drama in particular as a means of society coming together in a shared space and experience to examine the society in which they live, while being entertained.2 Even in his early school translations of Plautus Harrison was inclined towards colloquial, accessible language, translating an official’s line as, “Move along there!”, despite the 1 Harrison (2007a) 122. 2 The entertainment aspect of Harrison’s drama should not be underplayed. In his introductory essay to The Oresteia, “Egil and Eagle-Bark”, Harrison recalls a dream that he had after he agreed to work on the trilogy with Peter Hall. In his dream there was a queue of old men snaking through his front garden taking turns signing his guest book, which in his dream had ΟΡΕΣΤΕΙΑ embossed on its cover. When Harrison read the names he found that they were all the names of comedians whom he had seen as a child doing pantomime or vaudeville acts. See Harrison (2002b) 4-5. While the impact of this dream is not readily