Abstract
At the first Delphic Festival of 1927, Eva Palmer-Sikelianou presented a pioneering out-door production of Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound. Three years later, she staged repeat performances of the Prometheus and added a new production of Aeschylus' Suppliant Women. At first sight, it appears as if, at both festivals, Palmer-Sikelianou paid minimal attention to stage-design, whereas she took care personally of nearly all other production aspects. This study, however, based on the preserved photographic evidence, shows that Palmer-Sikelianou's philosophical conception of the “sacred” space of the ancient theater at Delphi, i.e., its near-circular orchestra and its open-view setting within the surrounding mountains, inspired her choice of an elemental stage-design. Influenced by Nietzsche's Birth of Tragedy, she stressed circular and centripetal movements, as her choreography demonstrates. On a larger plan, the Delphic orchestra was, for her, part of the ur-form of the dynamic circle, shaped here by Delphi's natural landscape, which rendered additional sets superfluous.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Selected References
Alexopoulos, G., “The Last Romantic and the Usage of the Past” (in Greek), He Lexe 126 (1995): 142–155.
Andronikos, M., Delphi, trans. B. de Jongh (Athens: Ekdotike Athenon, 1990).
Bacopoulou-Halls, A., “Revival: Greece”, in: Walton, Living Greek Theatre: 261–295.
Beacham, R., “Revival: Europe”, in: Walton, Living Greek Theatre: 297–327.
Colakis, M., The Classics in the American Theater of the 1960s and Early 1970s (Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1993).
Constantinidis, S. E., “Classical Greek Drama in Modern Greece: Mission and Money”, Journal of Modern Greek Studies 5, no. 1 (1987): 15–32.
Emmanuel, M., La Danse grecque antique d'après les monuments figurés (Paris: Hachette, 1896; Reprint, Paris and Geneva: Slatkine, 1987).
Eos: Illustrated Monthly Review (in Greek), nos. 98–102 (1966) and 103–107 (1967). Special double issue on Eva Palmer-Sikelianou. Reprinted in: Eva Palmer-Sikelianou (Athens: Papademas, 1998).
European Cultural Centre of Delphi, program “Homage to the Delphic Festivals: Symposium—Artistic Events—Exhibition” (Athens: European Cultural Centre of Delphi, 1997).
Flashar, H., Inszenierung der Antike: Das griechische Drama auf der Bühne der Neuzeit, 1585–1990 (Munich: Beck, 1991).
Garland, R., Surviving Greek Tragedy (London: Duckworth, 2002).
Glytzoures, A., “The Delphic Festivals (1927, 1930): The Revival of the Ancient Greek Chorus in the Prometheus Bound and in the Suppliants of Aeschylus” (in Greek), Ta Historika 15, nos. 28–29 (1998): 147–170.
—. The Stage Director's Art in Greece: The Emergence and the Establishment of the Art of the Stage Director in Modern Greek Theater (in Greek), 2 vols. (Athens: Hellenika Grammata, 2001).
Griffith, M., Aeschylus, Prometheus Bound (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983).
—, The Authenticity of ‘Prometheus Bound’ (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977).
Grypares, I. N., trans., The Tragedies of Aeschylus (in Modern Greek) (Athens: Hestia-Kollaros, n.d. [1938]).
—, trans. The Tragedies of Aeschylus (in Modern Greek), Vol. 1: Suppliants, Prometheus Bound (Athens: Delphic Festivals-Sakellarios, 1930).
Hartigan, K. V., Greek Tragedy on the American Stage: Ancient Drama in the Commercial Theater, 1882–1994 (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1995).
Heilke, T., Nietzsche's Tragic Regime: Culture, Aesthetics, and Political Education (DeKalb, Illinois: Northern Illinois University Press, 1998).
Kounoupes, G. N., The Delphic Idea: Angelos and Eva Sikelianos (in Greek) (Athens: n.p. 1960).
Lamprinos, Ph., “The Filming of the Delphic Festivals” (in Greek) Ta Historika 14, no. 26 (1997): 135–144.
Leontis, A., “The Greek Revival of the Delphic Festivals, 1927 and 1930”, paper delivered at Yale University, New Haven, Conn., 14 October 1998.
Macintosh, F., “Tragedy in Performance: Nineteenth-and Twentieth-Century Productions”, in: The Cambridge Companion to Greek Tragedy, ed. P. E. Easterling (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997): 284–323.
MacKinnon, K., Greek Tragedy into Film (Rutherford, N.J.: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1986).
McDonald, M., Ancient Sun, Modern Light: Greek Drama on the Modern Stage (New York: Columbia University Press, 1992).
McDonald, M., and J. M. Walton, eds., Amid Our Troubles: Irish Versions of Greek Tragedy (London: Methuen, 2002).
Michelakis, P., “Ancient Plays, Modern Festivals: The Revival of Greek Drama, 1880–1940”, paper delivered at the Tenth International Meeting on Ancient Greek Drama, European Cultural Centre of Delphi, 4 July 2000.
Nietzsche, F., The Birth of Tragedy, trans. D. Smith (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).
— The Birth of Tragedy and Other Writings, ed. R. Geuss and R. Speirs, trans. R. Speirs (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999).
Oikonomou, G. N., and G. K. Angelinaras, Bibliography of the Modern Greek Verse Translations of Ancient Greek Poetry (in Greek) (Athens: School of Philosophy, Athens University, 1979).
Palmer-Sikelianou, E., Letters of Eva Palmer-Sikelianou on Ancient Drama (in Greek trans.), ed. J. P. Anton (Athens: Nea Synora-Livanes, 1997).
—, Letters of Eva Palmer-Sikelianou to Natalie Clifford Barney, ed. and trans. (in Greek) L. Papadake (Athens: Kastaniotes, 1995).
—, Upward Panic. The Autobiography of Eva Palmer-Sikelianos, ed. J. P. Anton (Philadelphia: Harwood Academic Publishers, 1993).
—, “What Is Great Theatre?”, Eos 103–107 (1967): 298–303.
Papadake, L., The Archetype of the Ephebe and the Delphic Movement of Angelos Sikelianos (in Greek) (Athens: Kentro Neohellenikon Ereunon 1995).
Pascal, B., Pensées, ed. G. Ferreyrolles and Ph. Sellier (Paris: Librairie Générale Française, 2000).
Porter, J. I., The Invention of Dionysus: An Essay on The Birth of Tragedy (Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, 2000).
—, Nietzsche and the Philology of the Future (Stanford, Calif. Stanford University Press, 2000).
Pratsika, K., “Memories of the First Delphic Festivals of 1927” (in Greek), Eos 98–102 (1966): 126–131.
Program “Delphic Festivals 1927” (in Greek, French, English, Italian, and German).
Program “Delphic Festivals: Exhibition of Greek Folk Handicraft. Arachova May 1927” (in Greek).
Rotas, V., Theater and Language (1925–1977) (in Greek), 2 vols. (Athens: Epikairoteta, 1986).
Sánchez, P., L'Amphictionie des Pyles et de Delphes: recherches sur son rôle historique, des origines au IIe siècle de notre ère (Stuttgart: Steiner, 2001).
Sideres, G., The Ancient Theater on the Modern Greek Stage, 1817–1932 (in Greek) (Athens: Ikaros, 1976).
Sikelianos, A., Prose (in Greek), vol. 2: Delphic Writings (1921–1951), ed. G. P. Savvides (Athens: Ikaros, 1980).
Silk, M. S., and J. P. Stern, Nietzsche on Tragedy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981).
Sougioutzoglou-Seraïdare, Nelly [Nelly's]. Nelly's Self-Description (in Greek) (Athens: Voulgarides and Chatzestyles, 1989).
Taplin, O., The Stagecraft of Aeschylus: The Dramatic Use of Exits and Entrances in Greek Tragedy (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1977).
Tetradia Euthynes (in Greek), no. 11 (1980): special issue on Angelos Sikelianos.
Thrylos, A. [H. Ourane], “The Muted Pythia: About the Meaning of the Delphic Festivals” (in Greek), Anagennese 2, no. 5 (1928): 216–223; no. 6 (1928): 255–265.
Tsoutsoura, M., “The Problems and Aesthetics of the Revival of the Chorus at the Delphic Festivals in a Historical Perspective” (in Greek), Porphyras 14, no. 66 (1993): 31–45.
Van Steen, G. A. H., “Playing by the Censors' Rules? Classical Drama Revived under the Greek Junta (1967–1974)” Journal of the Hellenic Diaspora 27, nos. 1–2 (2001): 133–194.
Van Steen, G. H. A., “Rolling out the Red Carpet: Power ‘Play’ in Modern Greek Versions of the Myth of Orestes from the 1960s and 1970s,” forthcoming in this journal (IJCT 9 [2002/2003]).
—, Venom in Verse: Aristophanes in Modern Greece (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000).
Walton, J. M., Living Greek Theatre: A Handbook of Classical Performance and Modern Production (Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1987).
Weir, R. G. A., “Roman Delphi and Its Pythian Games”, 3 vols. (Ph.D. Dissertation, Princeton University, 1998).
Wiles, D., Greek Theatre Performance: An Introduction (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Van Steen, G. “The world’s a circular stage”: Aeschylean tragedy through the eyes of Eva Palmer-Sikelianou. Int class trad 8, 375–393 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12138-002-0003-8
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12138-002-0003-8