Papers by Theodore Grammatas
Η μελέτη εξετάζει τη δυναμική σχέση μεταξύ Ιστορίας και Θεάτρου, εστιάζοντας στο πώς η ιστορική π... more Η μελέτη εξετάζει τη δυναμική σχέση μεταξύ Ιστορίας και Θεάτρου, εστιάζοντας στο πώς η ιστορική πραγματικότητα μετατρέπεται σε καλλιτεχνική δημιουργία επί σκηνής. Ο συγγραφέας υποστηρίζει ότι το θέατρο δεν αποτελεί μια αντικειμενική καταγραφή γεγονότων, αλλά μια υποκειμενική ανάπλασή τους μέσα από τη συνείδηση του δημιουργού. Μέσω της σκηνικής ψευδαίσθησης, τα ιστορικά πρόσωπα και οι καταστάσεις αποκτούν μια νέα διάσταση που στοχεύει στη συγκινησιακή και πνευματική αφύπνιση του κοινού. Τελικά, το δράμα αναδεικνύεται σε κρίσιμο μέσο διατήρησης της συλλογικής μνήμης, μετατρέποντας την έρευνα του θεάτρου σε μια βαθύτερη μελέτη της ιστορίας του ίδιου του πολιτισμού.
This pre-publication text explores the multifaceted relationship between History and Theatre, exa... more This pre-publication text explores the multifaceted relationship between History and Theatre, examining how historical reality is transformed into artistic creation. The author analyzes the inherent subjectivity in recording the past, arguing that theatre does not objectively reconstruct history but rather transcribes it through the creator's subjective consciousness. Through stage illusion, historical events and figures acquire a secondary form aimed at evoking emotional and intellectual responses from the audience. By broadening the definition of history to include social and ideological conflicts, the text suggests that drama serves as a vital medium for preserving historical memory. Ultimately, researching History in World Theatre is presented as a study of the History of Civilization itself, as perceived and reinscribed in the spectator's memory.
It has long been acknowledged that theater has the ability to transport audiences to other worlds... more It has long been acknowledged that theater has the ability to transport audiences to other worlds and connect with them on a deeply personal level. This form of art captivates the senses, resulting in a distinctive and a vivid storytelling. One such drama that has a significant effect on its viewers is Aeschylus' Seven against Thebes. Through an examination of leadership, morality, and the human condition, it offers a timeless narrative that resonates with audiences across epochs.
Drama always consisted of an invaluable “database” for the culture and education of the ancient G... more Drama always consisted of an invaluable “database” for the culture and education of the ancient Greek spectators, who used to watch it as a performance that derived from the already existing literary types and forms (epic and lyric poetry) on which it was based and which included up to a certain degree; namely, in Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides’ tragedies and Aristophanes’ comedies, almost all the ideas, the messages, the moral values and the knowledge that constitute the so called “Ancient Greek Thought and Philosophy”, coexist and consist of the values of the ancient Greek culture as a whole. However, these do not represent the accumulation of some valuable material, but the creative conjunction and composition of qualitative and quantitative data in an astonishing analogy and harmony that expresses the basic principles and virtues of the ancient Greek Thought such as Moderation, Harmony, Symmetry, Equilibrium and the correspondence between form and content. This explains why the ancient Greek drama has been characterized by scholars as the “Theatre of Ideas” (Arrowsmith, 1963: 32) and the dramatic poets as “Educators” (Arnott, 1970: 35), since they used the stage in order to criticize their world, to promote the ideas rather than the heroes’ characters in their plays, thus providing an integrated culture and education for their spectators.
Η αρχαία ελληνική τραγωδία παραμένει στις μέρες μας ένα μοναδικό είδος λόγου αλλά και παραστατική... more Η αρχαία ελληνική τραγωδία παραμένει στις μέρες μας ένα μοναδικό είδος λόγου αλλά και παραστατικής τέχνης, που εκφράζει διαχρονικά την έννοια του κλασικού, καλύτερα ίσως από οποιαδήποτε άλλη μορφή τέχνης αντιπροσωπεύοντας, το όραμα της σύλληψης και έκφρασης αξιών μιας συγκεκριμένης εποχής. Σκοπός της παρούσας έρευνας είναι η μελέτη των ανθρωπιστικών αξιών του ευρωπαϊκού πολιτισμού, όπως αυτές εκφράζονται στο αρχαίο ελληνικό δράμα και η ανάδειξη του τρόπου με τον οποίο αυτές προβάλλονται μέσα από τη σύγχρονη σκηνική πράξη και εντυπώνονται σε θεατές που την παρακολουθούν με ψηφιακό τρόπο. Για την επίτευξη αυτού του σκοπού 105 θεατές από διάφορες περιοχές της Ελλάδας παρακολούθησαν ψηφιακά, μέσω υπολογιστή, την τραγωδία του Αισχύλου “Επτά επί Θήβας” σε σκηνοθεσία Τσέζαρις Γκραουζίνις (παραγωγή ΚΘΒΕ 2016-2017) και απάντησαν, τόσο αμέσως μετά την παρακολούθηση της παράστασης, όσο και έξι μήνες μετά, σε ερωτηματολόγιο που τους είχε διανεμηθεί, προκειμένου να καταγραφούν οι απόψεις τους και να αξιολογηθούν τα μνημονικά αποτυπώματα της παράστασης.
Είτε σε μια ευθύγραμμη, είτε σε κυκλική, είτε σε σπειροειδή πορεία της Ιστορίας και του κοινωνικο... more Είτε σε μια ευθύγραμμη, είτε σε κυκλική, είτε σε σπειροειδή πορεία της Ιστορίας και του κοινωνικού γίγνεσθαι, οι «κρίσεις» αποτελούν κομβικά σημεία-σταθμούς στην εξέλιξη του πολιτισμού. Κρίσεις σε επιμέρους τομείς (παιδεία, ηθική) που αφήνουν επιφανειακά ανέπαφο το υπόλοιπο πολιτιστικό οικοδόμημα, ή κρίσεις γενικευμένες (πολιτική, ιδεολογία, οικονομία, αξίες) που αποσταθεροποιούν ή/και ανατρέπουν τα μέχρι τη δεδομένη στιγμή επιτεύγματα, προκαλώντας βίαιες ανατροπές και ανακατατάξεις. Τέτοιου είδους κρίσεις επέφεραν κοινωνικές επαναστάσεις, πολέμους και αλλαγές σε παγκόσμιο επίπεδο (Οκτωβριανή επανάσταση).
The aim of our article is to point out the kinds of the theatrical memory and the mechanisms by w... more The aim of our article is to point out the kinds of the theatrical memory and the mechanisms by which it operates , in production and in the way of perceiving the spectacle that takes place on the stage. Memory plays a significant role in Theatre, both from the perspective of the viewers, as well as from the perspective of the creators. The viewer, who is attending a theatrical performance, consciously or not, is led to judgments and conclusions, comparing with other previous performances that he has attended. Therefore, whatever judgment he is making, is nothing but an invisible product of comparison with other/others of the past. The same applies for the director, the actor, the set designer and for all the artistic factors of the performance, who are led to the particular conclusion, taking into consideration directly or indirectly other theatrical performances and stage proposals that took place in the past.
Carnevali di Sicilia tra tradizione e innovazione
Open Research Europe
Background: Ancient Greek tragedy remains today a special dramatic genre that expresses the conce... more Background: Ancient Greek tragedy remains today a special dramatic genre that expresses the concept of the classic through time, perhaps better than any other form of art and culture, representing, as a theatrical expression, the vision of the conception and expression of values of a particular era. In this context, the purpose of the present research is to study the humanitarian values of European culture, as they are expressed in ancient Greek drama, and to highlight the way in which these values are projected through modern drama and are impressed on the spectators. Methods: To achieve this goal, 105 spectators watched the tragedy of Aeschylus ‘Seven against Thebes’ directed by Cesaris Grauzinis and answered, both immediately after watching the performance and six months later, a questionnaire, in order to record their opinions about the theatre performance they had attended. Results: According to the findings of the comparative analyses, it emerged that the messages and values g...
Ancient Drama constitutes a unique cultural synthesis of elements focusing on the Athenian democr... more Ancient Drama constitutes a unique cultural synthesis of elements focusing on the Athenian democracy of the fifth century BC. Its recipient, the Citizen-Spectator of the City-State, was receiving and interpreting the stage spectacle against a background of relatively homogeneous state narratives. Today, however, this relative consensus is very much weakened. The contemporary recipient is more of a Spectator-Consumer, rather than a traditional "spectator." S/he is a consumer with totally different world philosophy and sociopolitical background and certainly a different memory bank, a bank now enriched by numerous spectacles of ancient drama throughout the world, which, altogether have created dissimilar expectations and demands. And it is at this point that the role of the director gains additional importance and becomes an indispensable mediator between the contemporary spectator and the revisited classical text.
Drama and Theatre in ancient Greece. A database and a spectators' school
Drama always consisted of an invaluable "database" for the culture and education of the... more Drama always consisted of an invaluable "database" for the culture and education of the ancient Greek spectators, who used to watch it as a performance that derived from the already existing literary types and forms (epic and lyric poetry) on which it was based and which included up to a certain degree; namely, in Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides' tragedies and Aristophanes' comedies, almost all the ideas, the messages, the moral values and the knowledge that constitute the so called "Ancient Greek Thought and Philosophy", coexist and consist of the values of the ancient Greek culture as a whole. However, these do not represent the accumulation of some valuable material, but the creative conjunction and composition of qualitative and quantitative data in an astonishing analogy and harmony that expresses the basic principles and virtues of the ancient Greek Thought such as Moderation, Harmony, Symmetry, Equilibrium and the correspondence between form and co...
La primera representacion de una obra de Menandro en Grecia remonta al ano 1907, cuando el catedr... more La primera representacion de una obra de Menandro en Grecia remonta al ano 1907, cuando el catedratico de Filologia Clasica de la Universidad de Atenas Yorgos Sotiriadis puso en escena, con una compania semiprofesional, un pasaje del segundo acto del Arbitraje. A partir de ese momento el mundo del teatro comenzo a interesarse por presentar las obras de Menandro al publico griego y extranjero que acudia a los festivales de verano (Epidauro, Arenas, Dodoni, Filipos). En 1960 el Teatro nacional produjo el Discolo, con puesta en escena de Alexis Solomos. Posteriormente Spyros Evangelatos produjo, con su Anfi-Teatro, el Arbitraje, con una puesta en escena emblematica. El director que ha impreso su huella en la representacion de las obras de Menandro es el chipriota Veis Gavrilidis, que ha combinado con exito el espiritu de la Comedia Nueva con el genero de teatro comico moderno conocido como «Кωμeιδλλιο». La Samia y El Arbitraje son espectaculos famosos en la historia de la puesta en esc...
European Journal of Social Sciences, 2019
At the beginning of the 21 st Century, Modern Greek Dramaturgy had already entered the Postmodern... more At the beginning of the 21 st Century, Modern Greek Dramaturgy had already entered the Postmodernism phase, closely adhering to the trends of international theatre. The economic and cultural crisis that set in after the first decade brought an end to almost every innovative attempt. Obsolete types and forms, subjects and stories/plots, are recycled and updated. The Past reappears in exactly the same way it used to be depicted in 20 th or even 19 th century literary texts and successful comedies of the Greek cinema of the 50's-60's are almost completely prevailing. It is not, however, the first time this phenomenon is observed in the Modern Greek Theatre. A similar one appears in the Interwar period (1922-1940), when, for political, social and economic reasons reality becomes very negative for Greek playwrights. The recent and distant Past appears to have a redemptive effect, thus offering an alibi and a way-out deprived by the Present.This is the subject of our announcement, based on the notions and the function of theatrical memory and the multiple roles by which History is joining Theatre.
Journal of Literature and Art Studies, 2015
In many representative, literary, cinematic, or artistic products of modern civilization, the pro... more In many representative, literary, cinematic, or artistic products of modern civilization, the problem of world's reality and the relationship of the subject with it, are seen from different viewpoints, such as the dimension of the utopian perception of a dreamlike or imaginary composition, subconscious creation, but also more complex versions such as computer mediated complete illusion, artificial intelligence, and control of the brain, intrusion, and influence exerted on the thought of the other using modern technology or any combination of all the above. It is thus understood that the issue at hand can be approached from a variety of viewpoints and aspects, such as the philosophical, psychological, psychoanalytical, technological, neurophysiological, sociological, literary and so on. Our viewpoint is strictly limited to the theatrical dimension and our analysis will progress based on data comprising the theatrical phenomenon, that is, the illusion, as opposed to virtual reality of modern technology.
L'hospitalité selon Brecht «La Bonne âme de Se-Tchouan»
L'hospitalité au théâtre, 2003
... Après avoir passé la nuit chez-elle, les trois dieux s' en vont le lendemain matin, lui ... more ... Après avoir passé la nuit chez-elle, les trois dieux s' en vont le lendemain matin, lui ayant offert beaucoup d'argent comme récompense. ... " Whight Elizabeth, The God Person of Szechwan: discourse of a masquerade in: Peter Thomson-Glendyr Sacks [eds], The Cambridge ...
Antropologia E Teatro Rivista Di Studi, May 16, 2013
The term "popular theatre" denotes a cultural creat * on the specic features of which remain cons... more The term "popular theatre" denotes a cultural creat * on the specic features of which remain constant and characteristc of this theatrical category (Grammatas 2006: 239-241) despite any changes that might have taken place over the tmes. Its basic source of origin is the "ritual", which, though not identcal, relates to the concepts of "ritual" and "custom", and is ofen used interchangeably in internatonal bibliography (Puchner 1985: 40). Beyond any partcular conceptual analyses, "folk theatre" is understood as "dramatzed rite" (Kakouri 1980: 59-104), which is "acted" and "realised" in combinaton with the concept of "performability", connected both to the meaning * This research has been co-nanced by the European Union (European Social Fund-ESF) and Greek natonal funds through the Operatonal Program "Educaton and Lifelong Learning" of the Natonal Strategic Reference Framework (NSRF)-Research Funding Program: THALIS-UOA-"The Theatre as educatonal good and artstc expression in educaton and society". No 4 (2013) h6p://antropologiaeteatro.unibo.it
The term “popular theatre” denotes a cultural creation the specific features of which remain cons... more The term “popular theatre” denotes a cultural creation the specific features of which remain constant and characteristic of this theatrical category (Grammatas 2006 : 239-241) despite any changes that might have taken place over the times. Its basic source of origin is the “ritual”, which, though not identical, relates to the concepts of “ritual” and “custom”, and is often used interchangeably in international bibliography (Puchner 1985 : 40). Beyond any particular conceptual analyses, “folk theatre” is understood as “dramatized rite” (Kakouri 1980 : 59-104), which is “acted” and “realised” in combination with the concept of “performability”, connected both to the meaning itself (actors, action) as well as its usage on the part of the attending conscience (audience). In this meaning, the “popular activities” includes the genetic/anthropological as well as the social/functional code of communication, combined with its mimetic and folkloristic content, thus denoting “ a semiotic system of social actions following a certain typical order, binding (and/or obligatory) for the community, intensifying the feeling of “us” and symbolising the common identity” ( Puchner 1998 34-40).
Είτε σε μια ευθύγραμμη, είτε σε κυκλική, είτε σε σπειροειδή πορεία της Ιστορίας και του κοινω... more Είτε σε μια ευθύγραμμη, είτε σε κυκλική, είτε σε σπειροειδή πορεία της Ιστορίας και του κοινωνικού γίγνεσθαι, οι «κρίσεις» αποτελούν κομβικά σημεία- σταθμούς στην εξέλιξη του πολιτισμού. Κρίσεις σε επιμέρους τομείς (παιδεία, ηθική) που αφήνουν επιφανειακά ανέπαφο το υπόλοιπο πολιτιστικό οικοδόμημα, ή κρίσεις γενικευμένες (πολιτική, ιδεολογία, οικονομία, αξίες) που αποσταθεροποιούν ή/και ανατρέπουν τα μέχρι τη δεδομένη στιγμή επιτεύγματα, προκαλώντας βίαιες ανατροπές και ανακατατάξεις. Τέτοιου είδους κρίσεις επέφεραν κοινωνικές επαναστάσεις, πολέμους και αλλαγές σε παγκόσμιο επίπεδο (Οκτωβριανή επανάσταση).
Η έννοια της «Ιστορίας», δυναμική και πολυσήμαντη εκ φύσεως, συνάπτεται εξίσου όχι μόνο με τα «πα... more Η έννοια της «Ιστορίας», δυναμική και πολυσήμαντη εκ φύσεως, συνάπτεται εξίσου όχι μόνο με τα «παρελθοντικά συμβεβηκότα», αλλά και με τη «διαδικασία μεσολάβησης» και «εξιστόρησης», που απορρέουν από τη συνείδηση του συγκεκριμένου ιστορικού-ερευνητή. Αφορά δηλαδή ταυτόχρονα στο ίδιο το χρονικά συντελεσμένο «αντικειμενικό» (με την όποια σημασία του) γεγονός καθαυτό, αλλά και την υποκειμενικότητα της «θεώσας συνείδησης» του ερευνητή, συνυφασμένης με μηχανισμούς και πρακτικές υποδοχής και αποδοχής του παρελθόντος από το παρόν, τόσο για το συγκεκριμένο άτομο που πραγματοποιεί την έρευνα, όσο και για το κοινωνικό σύνολο, στο οποίο αυτή τελικά απευθύνεται και τη λυσιτελή ρύθμιση των μεταξύ τους σχέσεων (Λιάκος 22007: 23).
Οι σκοποί της Γενικής Εκπαίδευσης στο Ελληνικό Σχολείο ορίζονται και συγκεκριμενοποιούνται με τρό... more Οι σκοποί της Γενικής Εκπαίδευσης στο Ελληνικό Σχολείο ορίζονται και συγκεκριμενοποιούνται με τρόπο σαφή και αναλυτικό ανεξαρτήτως νόμων και διαταγμάτων που κατά καιρούς αλλάζουν και εκσυγχρονίζονται. Η υλοποίησή τους όμως επαφίεται στους εκπαιδευτικούς.
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Papers by Theodore Grammatas