Classic Greek Drama in America

Classic Greek Drama in America. American playgoers relatively early were afforded opportunities to see many of the great Greek dramatic stories performed, albeit not in translations directly from the Greek. A version of the Medea legend was on stage in 1800, as was a production of the Oedipus myth by 1834. However, the stories were first really popularized in French versions, such as Legouvé's Medea, which Rachel offered in the original French, Ristori played in Italian, and Matilda Heron in an English translation. Translations directly from the Greek had to await the rise of academic stages in the very late 19th century and the availability of the efforts of such scholars as Gilbert Murray. Not until the second decade of the 20th century did major classic revivals emerge. Margaret Anglin was an important figure in the movement, offering her Antigone in California in 1910 and her Electra and Medea in New York in 1918. She had also played in Hippolytus and Iphigenia in other cities. John Kellerd was said to have offered the first professional Oedipus Rex in New York in 1911. Notable modern offerings have included Lysistrata in 1930, the Old Vic's Oedipus Rex, featuring Olivier, in 1946, and Judith Anderson in Robinson Jeffers's translation of Medea in 1947. This last was also seen in New York in 1973 with Irene Papas, in 1982 with Zoe Caldwell, in 1994 with Diana Rigg, and in 2002 with Fiona Shaw. Joe Papp presented a powerful Agamemnon at Lincoln Center in 1977 that was revived in Central Park, and an all‐star Electra in 1998 was a popular limited attraction on Broadway. Collegiate theatres remain important as platforms for classic Greek revivals, and on occasion nonprofit theatres will find favor with the genre, such as Andre Serban's series of unconventional productions at La MaMa in the 1970s, the Hartford Stage's nine‐play cycle The Greeks in 1982, and the Denver Theatre Center's classics marathon Tantalus in 2000.