Scenic Space and Time in Sophocles’ Theatre
Abstract
The article presents how the Athenian dramatist created the scenery of his plays with the simple scenic furnishings of the fifth-century stage, consisting only of a skene-building, an orchestra and an altar. The scenery could not be realistic and Sophocles painted the settings verbally, with all details. The localization of his plays was usually signalled in the texts themselves. Both the theatrical space and time were modified by the poet with the word. As to the time, that could be lenghtened or compressed in the play by the odes of the chorus. The paper presents whether Sophocles complies or not with the classical convention of the unity of space and time, and cases discussed by the author of the article show that mostly he does (there is one exception, also presented).
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