Abstract

It was the Siege of Sarajevo in the early 1990s, the longest siege in modern military history, that made Neapolitan film and theatre director Mario Martone turn to Aeschylus’ Seven Against Thebes to address the war that he found himself observing from neighbouring Italy. Aeschylus’ play spoke to Martone because it describes a lengthy siege, a fratricidal war, and explores the suffering of a community under siege. A theatrical production of the tragedy, staged in Naples in December 1996 and June 1997, also directed by Martone, is key to the content and the development of the film whose English title is Rehearsals for War, first screened at the Cannes film festival in 1998. However, the Italian title Teatro di Guerra translates literally as ‘Theatre of War’, and the siege warfare in Martone’s film operates on two levels of immediacy. The overt context is the terrifying situation in Sarajevo, but within Naples, during rehearsals, the actors and the production team also find themselves besieged by circumstances dictated or influenced by organized crime. Martone consulted not only Aeschylus’ text, but also Sophocles’ Oedipus at Colonus and Euripides’ Phoenician Women, and was influenced by these in creating a role for Antigone as leader of the Chorus women. The film thus addresses two different kinds of civil war, while claiming that Greek tragedy as a genre and theatrical performance as a vehicle both have a powerful role to play in helping us to understand contemporary warfare.

Read more about Isabelle Torrance at:
http://classics.nd.edu/faculty/classics-faculty/isabelle-torrance/

Participation

The lecture is open to all - registration is not necessary, just show up. Coffee and tea will be served.

Organiser

AIAS Fellow Karen ní Mheallaigh
karenmheallaigh@aias.au.dk
Phone: +45 871 53753

Aarhus Institute of Advanced Studies
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8000 Aarhus C
Denmark