The Screen as Vector of the Memory of Theatre Cover Image

L’écran comme vecteur de la mémoire du théâtre
The Screen as Vector of the Memory of Theatre

Author(s): Despoina Nikiforaki
Subject(s): Theatre, Dance, Performing Arts, Film / Cinema / Cinematography
Published by: UArtPress - Editura Universității de Arte din Tîrgu Mureş - A Marosvásárhelyi Művészeti Egyetem Kiadója
Keywords: ancient theatre; tragedy; characters; camera; actor;

Summary/Abstract: This article shows how Ivo van Hove’s performance Les Damnés, based on Visconti’s film, reuses material from ancient Greek theatre. The stage director introduces the cinematographic idiom with the use of the camera in order to keep the continuity with Visconti’s film. Members of the Von Essenbeck family are characters bearing resemblance to Agamemnon, Clytemnestra, Orestes, Aegisthus and Creusa, Jason’s new wife. Their actions can be understood and magnified by the simultaneous reading of the Greek tragedies (Oresteia, Orestes, Electra, Medea). Thus, we establish the characters’ ancient nature, which gives them an archetypal consistency, while, by the use of the camera, the stage deepens its insight on them, focusing on the details of their faces and the actors’ work.

  • Issue Year: XXII/2021
  • Issue No: 1 (40)
  • Page Range: 161-166
  • Page Count: 6
  • Language: French