Category Archives: Greek Tragedy

Each of our tragedians tackled the story of Orestes and Electra. In today’s episode, we get Euripides’s take, and as one should expect from the most depressing of the three, it is bloody. Discussion Prompts Which version of this story do you like best? Why? What does Klytaemestra tells us about motherhood? AP Credit: DiscussContinue reading “Greek Tragedy XXIV: Euripides’s Electra, or An Ancient Greek Rashoman?”

In today’s play, we learn what happens to the rest of the seven men who make up the famous Seven Against Thebes. Discussion Prompts Why would the suppliants be assembled at a temple of Demeter instead of some other god? If you were directing this today, how would you cast your chorus? How many mothersContinue reading “Greek Tragedy XXIII: Euripides’s The Suppliants, or How the Other Half Mourns”

When Aphrodite is good, she is very very good, but when she is bad, she is horrid. Discussion Prompts AP Credit: Why does Phaedra long for the mountains, the meadows, the clear streams, etc.? What do you think of the nurse? Good? Bad? Somewhere in between? Why? Hippolytus’s mother is an Amazon, yet he isContinue reading “Greek Tragedy XX: Euripides’s Hippolytus, or Aphrodite Has a Curl Right in the Middle of Her Forehead”

We already read Sophocles’s take on the death of Heracles. In this episode, we’ll look at Euripides’s take on what happens to the children of Heracles, or Heracleidae in Greek. Discussion Prompts If you were directing this play today, where and/or when would you set it? How might this change some of the characters? WhatContinue reading “Greek Tragedy XIX: Euripides’s Heracleidae, or Somehow… Someday… Somewhere…”

Welcome to the messiest divorce in Greek mythology. Discussion Prompts Why do you think the first character we meet is the nurse? How would you describe her relationship with Medea? Why do you think Jason is engaged to the princess? Does Medea’s revenge plot stem from Jason’s actions or from Creon’s? Why? Is Medea aContinue reading “Greek Tragedy XVIII: Euripides’s Medea, or Kramer vs Kramer”

Meet Euripides, the cheeriest of the Greek tragedians. Discussion Prompts What does Alcestis tell us about the expectations for women, particularly wives, in Ancient Greece? Who would you cast as Death?  Why? Who would you cast as Heracles? Why? Is Admetus as nice of a person as Apollo and Heracles seem to think? Who benefits fromContinue reading “Greek Tragedy XVII: Euripides’s Aclestis, or The Good Wife”

In this episode, we reach the end of Sophocles’s plays and see both the playwright and Oedipus as old men. Discussion Prompts Do you think radio, or podcast, is the best medium for Greek tragedies today? Why or why not? If you were producing the Sophocles Oedipus trilogy, would you cast the same man asContinue reading “Greek Tragedy XVI: Sophocles’s Oedipus at Colonus, or When Oedipus Met Theseus”

If your only experience of Philoctetes is the character in Disney’s Hercules, prepare for a big surprise. Discussion Prompts How can we use this play to discuss disability rights today? This play is not about race, but how can we use this play to discuss race today? If you were directing this play today, howContinue reading “Greek Tragedy XV: Sophocles’s Philoctetes, or You Were Expecting Danny DeVito?”

I think this is the first time we’ve encountered two different tellings of the same myth. We’re revisiting the story of how Orestes and Electra seek revenge on their mother. We’ve already seen how Aeschylus tells the story. Later we’ll see how Euripides handles it. Today, however, we get Sophocles’s take on it. Discussion PromptsContinue reading “Greek Tragedy XIV: Sophocles’s Electra, or Not Your Aeschylus’s Electra”

You have probably heard about Oedipus before. And I do love this play. And I love how it is infiltrated popular culture. The hilarious Frasier episode parodying it aired when I was in college, and I remember Maria (AKA Triumvir Callirhoe) and I watching it in stitches. I can’t find a free place for youContinue reading “Greek Tragedy XIII: Sophocles’s Oedipus Rex, Or You May Have Heard About His Odd Complex”