This summer, I assisted Professor Lynn Kozak on their research project entitled Between Tragedy and Horror: Body Horror and Monstrosity in Sophocles’ Trachiniae. This project sought to investigate the generic affinities between Greek tragedy and contemporary horror media by staging Sophocles’ under-seen play Trachiniae, or The Women of Trachis, using contemporary horror aesthetics. By combining the high and low genres, Dr. Kozak was hoping to uncover another level of accessibility to ancient performance, and a way of reinterpreting tragedy that responds to current social crises, much like contemporary horror film. I was so drawn to this ARIA project because much like Dr. Kozak’s work, my research focuses on using performance as a research method to better understand the experience of ancient literature and drama. Over the last year, I directed and translated a trilogy of Senecan Tragedies to investigate questions of reception, genre, and performance theory. My background in tragedy and performance naturally drew me to the Trachiniae project.
The rich, interdisciplinary nature of this project offered many learning objectives and opportunities. First, I aimed to learn research-creation methodologies in practical and performance-based work to better understanding ancient texts. I wanted to gain a better handle on the theories and methodologies surrounding performance and how textual and literary analysis can be embodied through creative work. Dr. Kozak was also committed to training me in horror media and aesthetics to have a more comprehensive understanding of the project’s scope and purpose. To do so, I served as an assistant at a conference on Horror Ecologies: Un/human Body Genres, New Materialisms, New Methodologies. Another primary learning objective was to improve my Ancient Greek translation skills. As part of this project, I translated and assisted in the adaptation of passages from Aeschylus’ Eumenides and Libation Bearers. I also prepared a complete translation of Sophocles’ Oedipus Tyrannus to familiarize myself with the author’s style in the original language. These learning objectives were all successfully met throughout the course of the project.
There were many memorable highlights of this ARIA project. Perhaps most memorable was the final performance of Trachiniae, where Dr. Kozak and their co-director Tania Dos Santos presented the final product of our labours and got feedback from the group of academics and theatre professionals who came to watch. It was gratifying to see the research be consumed as entertainment, and it proved to me that creation and performance can both entertain and be employed as an effective research method. Through the audience talkback after the performance, for example, we learned that the anagnorisis of the play was considered the most horrifying part and generated a strong emotional response. Another highlight of the ARIA project was working closely with Dr. Kozak on translation and learning more about translation theories and practices. I got the chance to discuss and debate various translations of Aeschylus with Dr. Kozak and really dig into the original text. We spent nearly half an hour discussing the translation of a single word in The Libation Bearers! It was an invigorating experience and certainly cemented my interest in working on translation in my future academic career.
There were also certain challenges that arose during this ARIA project. One significant challenge was navigating the technical side of the performance. Sound designer and technical director Peter Cerone entrusted me to handle the editing and execution of projection cues during tech rehearsal and the final showing. I did not have a lot of practice in technical theatre, as my background focused mostly on direction and production, but it was a welcome challenge. I struggled to understand the technically advanced software that Peter used, and I was worried that I would run cues at the wrong time during the performance. I soon realized that all I needed to do was ask for help. Peter sat next to me during tech rehearsals and walked me through the software step-by-step. Then, he wrote down all the cues and helped me commit the timing to memory. It was a challenge to understand the technical side of production at first, but the whole creative team was so dedicated to helping me learn every aspect of production.
This ARIA has absolutely cemented my passion for ancient drama. I want to pursue post-graduate studies in Classics, and this project has proven to me how fulfilling academic research can be. It also elucidated to me the endless possibilities of interdisciplinary research. More than anything, it set me on continuing to use performance as a research-creation practice to understand the experience of ancient literature and drama. I want to thank Mr. Jim O’Farrell for his generosity which enabled me to pursue this research. Thank you Mr. O’Farrell and the Arts Internship Office for this incredible research opportunity which has motivated me to continue my study of ancient tragedy and performance.
