Abstract

Theatres today are places of entertainment, dark spaces in which we cut ourselves off from the realities of daily life for a few hours. But theatre for the ancient Greeks was anything but a space of entertainment and escapism. It was a central pillar in the way their society – and particularly democratic society – functioned; a space in which every citizen was expected to be active and play their part. In this talk, I use the theatre as a way in to thinking about the nature of ancient Greek society and as a result Greek history. How were the major issues, events and ideas that governed the lives of the Greeks represented, reflected on, articulated and even created within the space of the theatre? And what can an examination of theatre’s own history of artistic and architectural development as well as geographical spread tell us about the changing nature of Greek society and the course of Greek history?