‘Enough give in it'

This chapter discusses the Translating Classical Plays on 'Enough Give in It'. The chapter identifies the parameters between a respect for the original text and the imperatives of a modern production, by considering some detailed moments from each of the Greek tragedians. It highlight the transition in ancient Athens from the formal tragedy of Aeschylus to the more human and humane plays of Sophocles and Euripides. Starting with Aeschylus is logical, especially as only The Oresteia as a connected trilogy offers the opportunity to consider the full dramatic shape. One brief further example shows the extent to which this already exists in Aeschylus, as we will see it does in Sophocles and Euripides. In Antigone the Guard makes two entrances, the first reluctantly to confess to Creon that the body of Polyneices has been buried; the second time, one choral ode after his first exit, to deliver Antigone whom he has discovered re-burying the body.