Classics

A live performance recorded at Shakespeare's Globe, London, 8 and 12 August 2014.

Why do plays well over two millennia old still speak to audiences today? This program traces Greek theater from ancient harvest rites to the golden age of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes. Key scenes from Antigone, Oedipus Tyrannus, Medea, and Lysistrata show how these works remain relevant by exploring the timeless themes of honor, class, gender, sexuality, and politics. Essential concepts such as catharsis, hamartia, and the use of masks and a chorus are discussed. Scholarly commentary by Helene Foley of Barnard College, Jeffrey Henderson of Boston University, Princeton University's Robert Fagles, and Peter Meineck of NYU's Aquila Theatre Company emphasizes the vitality of classical drama and the essential role it played in the everyday lives of the ancient Greeks

A live performance recorded at Shakespeare's Globe, London, 11 and 14 August 2014

Contemporary Western society revolves around celebrity-and ancient Greek culture was no different, as this program demonstrates with perceptive comparisons of the two worlds. Scholarly analysis and splendid re-enactments bring new life to Homer's epic, giving it both a historical and personal context. For long-ago Greek listeners enraptured with famous warriors and athletes, Homer fashioned a subtle moral dilemma: can one pursue fortune and recognition without endangering a far more valuable treasure-namely, the love and stability of family?

Jean Cocteau turns the Orpheus legend into a story of a poet and his encounter with death and the middle world.

Stanley Kubrick (director); screenplay by Dalton Trumbo.
The fully restored 1960 American epic historical drama film starring Kirk Douglas as Spartacus, Laurence Olivier as the Roman general and politician Marcus Licinius Crassus, Peter Ustinov as slave trader Lentulus Batiatus, John Gavin as Julius Caesar, Jean Simmons as Varinia, Charles Laughton as Sempronius Gracchus and Tony Curtis as Antoninus.

Excerpts from the production at La Mama Experimental Theater Club (New York City) of Andrei Serban's interpretation of the classic dramas Electra, Medea and The Trojan women, with music by Elizabeth Swados. Margaret Croyden provides introductions and commentary. Ellen Stewart, founder and guiding spirit of La Mama speaks briefly about her goals in the modern theater. Originally broadcast in 1974.