Event

Speaker: Rosa Andújar, Senior Lecturer at King's College London

Abstract: Extant Greek tragedy contains several instances of choral division, scenes when the chorus appears either to split into individual performers or more commonly, to divide into small groups. As these scenes involve the (always temporary) disintegration of tragedy’s emblematic collective, a collective that is customarily conceived of as a unified group, I argue that it is useful to frame such scenes in terms of fragmentation. These various states of fragmentation illustrate not only the way in which tragedians play with the chorus’ ability to slide towards and away from uniform collectivity but also the assumptions about wholeness which have implicitly informed critical and editorial approaches to the chorus. After an overview that discusses the value of adopting fragmentation as a valuable term to understand this type of choral activity, I discuss two examples in which Euripides choreographed choral divisions at key junctures: during a stasimon in Suppliant Women and to safeguard on-stage action in Orestes. As I discuss, a focus on fragmentation enables us to see the chorus as a supple performer whose role is not undermined by its temporary dissolution.