BART 12A26 - The Oresteia: Civil Disorder and Collective Voice

The aim of this artistic workshop is for students to encounter the political and aesthetic effects of the chorus: an element at the core of Greek tragedy and revived in much contemporary performance today. Our entry point will be a foundational dramatic text: Aeschylus’ Oresteia. This trilogy, which won first prize for tragedy at Athens’ City Dionysia festival in 458 BCE, stages the foundation of democratic Athens and raises questions about family conflict, civil disorder, and democratic process that have attracted commentary for over two thousand years. While the political significance of the chorus will form part of our investigations in this workshop, the aesthetic possibilities of collective voice will be the focus of our practice. Through a combination of group vocal exercises, watching, reading, listening, and eventually devising a short group performance, students will encounter the beauty, power and danger of many human voices speaking as one.

In a world of political polarization, what does it mean for many to speak as one? Under what circumstances is it possible, or necessary? How does it feel to be among the many? Conversely, how does it feel to speak as an individual against the group? Students will collaborate with one another to develop a response, in theatrical terms, to the questions of unity and plurality, conflict and collectivity, that continue to animate political life today. The semester will be organized around three key moments: presentation of a concept for a group performance, your group performance at the end of semester, and an in-class reflective essay that includes analysis of some effect of the chorus in the Oresteia or in another of the artistic materials on the syllabus.

At the end of the course, the student is expected to : 1°) Understand the aesthetic and political significance of the tragic Greek chorus and analyze the aesthetic and political effects of choral elements in avant-garde and contemporary performance. 2°) Become familiar with Aeschylus’ Oresteia trilogy, a foundational theatrical text, and gain insight into its relationship to Athenian political institutions. Interpret the representation of the chorus in its three plays and in at least one contemporary production of the trilogy. 3°) Initiate a group creative process: devise and perform a short performance that involves and/or experiments with collective voice and choreography.

Please specify the different exercises and pedagogical formats you want to improve student’s learning (lecture, debate, group work, workshop…):

In this artistic workshop, students will participate in a range of simple group exercises: physical, vocal and aural (listening). They will be asked to come to class having read a section of the Oresteia trilogy and should be prepared to discuss the text as well as to read parts of it aloud with the group. In pairs or small groups, they will come up with a concept for a performing arts project to be worked on inside and outside of class and presented at the end of semester. In these groups they will be asked to experiment with group choreography and collective vocal elements, which can involve writing texts as well as improvising. We will watch and analyze clips of a range of performances for inspiration and read sections from Elias Canetti’s 1962 Crowds and Power (in class). Students will receive feedback from the teacher and the group; they will have time to rehearse their projects in class as the semester goes on. Throughout the semester, they will be encouraged to develop a critical point of view on their own practice. The final essay, which will be done in class, will ask students to reflect upon their group performance and devising process with reference to the function and effect of the chorus in the Oresteia or in another of the artistic materials on the syllabus.

To validate the course, the student is expected to pass the following assignments:

1°) Pitch of Group Performance (3-5min conceptual presentation with Powerpoint) (25% of the grade) 2°) Group Performance (5-10 min performance) (25% of the grade) 3°) Final Essay (1000 words) (25% of the grade)

4°) In-class participation and homework/preparation: 25% of the grade