Classical Tragedy, Some Aesthetic Paradoxes and Mati Unt Cover Image

Antiiktragöödia, esteetika paradoksid ja Mati Unt
Classical Tragedy, Some Aesthetic Paradoxes and Mati Unt

Author(s): Anne Lill
Subject(s): Literary Texts
Published by: SA Kultuurileht
Keywords: reception of antiquity; tragedy; Friedrich Nietzsche; performance; post-modern aesthetics; Dionysus; the mixture of styles

Summary/Abstract: A new version of the Theban plays was put on the Estonian stage in 2004 by Mati Unt. In his interpretation Greek tragedy got a post-modern look. The tragedies of Euripides ("Bacchae", "Phoenissae") and Sophocles ("Oedipus Tyrannus", "Antigone") were combined to form a new play, titled "Brother Antigone, mother Oedipus". The main idea of the play was the destructive force of power and the Dionysian mystical hegemony over men. Roles were doubled, while the text represented a mixture of poetical and common-language style. The strategy of staging resembled the provocative idea of Nietzsche's work "The Birth of Tragedy" with its break with the classical conventions, historicism and traditional rules. On the existential level, the work of Nietzsche is connected with Unt's play by the idea of estrangement. In the works of both authors the mythical world view becomes more palpable than the real world. The 21th century touch was attained in Unt's play by combining the tragic athmosphere with elements of irony, grotesque and playfulness in all aspects of the performance: language, gestures, costumes, stage set etc. By making a connected trilogy of "Bacchae" and the tragedies on Oedipus theme Unt lent the play a new dimension (the characters common in the different parts were Dionysus and Teiresias). With his play Unt created an intriguing and interesting combination of the ancient and modern realia and motives.

  • Issue Year: XLIX/2006
  • Issue No: 01
  • Page Range: 1-14
  • Page Count: 14
  • Language: Estonian