him in the shape of a Greek drama, but he had other ideas about the translation and chose Andrew Wilson’s, published on line. This, he felt, was more accessible to a modern audience, omitting for example the more esoteric mythological allusions, and also brought out the play’s humour (possibly too much?). (Ah, happy memories of marking students’ essays comparing different translations!) So we agreed on that, while retaining Michie and Leach’s words for two of the choral odes. Andrew Wilson generously allowed us to use his translation and also offered to create and maintain a website for us. A name had to be found for my new ad hoc company, and happily one popped into my head. ‘Athens of the North’ suggested Athens (obviously) but also the Edinburgh of the Scottish Enlightenment in the 18th century. Hoping that participants and audiences would be similarly enlightened, we agreed on the name. I must admit that setting to music free verse in English, verse which has not been written for that purpose and does not reflect the original metres, and managing something approaching ancient Greek music style, is extraordinarily difficult. So we have ended up with, I hope, a not too unacceptable compromise. An authentic chorus would of course have been sung by men. The director and I preferred to retain realistic sexes for the principal parts, as is normal practice, and I felt that a mixed chorus would be a reasonable compromise between the female chorus as characters in the play and the actual male chorus of the original performance. Therefore, and to keep the dark sound of a
male chorus, all the music has been written for low voices. The chorus sang in unison and were accompanied by a single aulos-player, also playing the same notes. We shall substitute a cor anglais, or possibly a crumhorn, for the aulos. In a sense the music is easy, but I am not certain how people will take to music which is in some ways quite simplistic, without harmony, tune or structure, and with only two note lengths! Fortunately the choral ode written by the real composer, being more tuneful and varied, will provide some relief. Usually in modern interpretations of Greek drama the chorus just stand, dotted around the stage, but in this case, the movements of the chorus will be choreographed to suit the words and the music we have written. Another factor in the early stages of production was the performance venue. There are not many Greek theatres around and conventional theatres cannot accommodate the chorus in its position between principals and audience. So we chose an Edinburgh Georgian citycentre church as our theatre; its dais and flexible seating in combination with its oval shape seemed to be reasonably suitable. I am trusting the set designer and props maker to make the audience think they are in Egypt rather than a church. The final issue which had to be sorted out before we knew we could definitely proceed with the production was to find a Helen. This is a huge part: she has to be able to learn a great number of lines and to sing as well. I was very glad to have plenty of contacts in the amateur operatic world and to have attended a lot of performances! We are lucky to have found a brave and
talented Helen who has plenty of experience on the stage. We have succeeded in casting the other parts and have assembled most of the chorus. I am happy to say that three of my OU students, all from my two Latin groups, have become involved, two in the chorus and one in costume creation, and I have hopes that one or two more may join in October. An Athenian tragedy was of course performed in the open air and in natural light during a competitive and religious festival before an enormous audience. To make an impact the performers wore special tragic costumes and masks. The play was performed complete in a single sitting. We have had to make compromises, as you can imagine. Because we will be inside we will have to use lighting. The audience may be small, and certainly not enormous, so there is no real need for masks, which in any case would be difficult to make and to use; instead we thought of having mask-like make-up. Authentic tragic costume (what w ?V?BVw?F??2?fR&VV?vV&??r??F?Rf?gF?6V?GW'???v???v?V?B&R?V???v?W72F?&W6V?B?F?VF?V?6R?6?vRFV6?FVB??6?7GV?W2v??6?v?V?B&R&V6?v??6&?R2w&VV??BVw?F??F?F?R?&F??'?W'6????F?R7G&VWB???FF?F??????6??6?FW&??rF?R6??f?'B?bF?RVF?V?6R?vRFV6?FVB?????FW'f?&?WBGv?F??&G2?bF?Rv?F?&?Vv?F?R???&V?V'6?27F'B??6WFV?&W"f?"?W"Gv?W&f?&??6W2BF?RV?B?b??fV?&W"#2??B&V???2F?&R6VV???rvV???W"6??&??6W2v?&??B??r66WF&?RF?R??&RWF?V?F?27V7G2?bF?R&?GV7F???&R???R&RvV?6??RF?6??R?Bf??B?WB? ???