Films in the Theatrical Mode

By far the earliest filmed record of a modern theatrical production of Greek drama, this short's particular value is in partially preserving a key moment in the history of drama. The filming technique as well as the quality of the film stock would justify Oliver Taplin's description of the original film (1927) as ‘exceedingly primitive’, ¹ but the event filmed, 11 minutes in all from the production of Prometheus Bound (by ‘Aeschylus’) at Delphi on 9 May 1927, has unusual significance. Mrs Aglae Mitropoulos, the guardian of the Greek Film Archive, considers that this production constitutes the rebirth of tragedy. ² The claim of rebirth should not be taken to mean that the Delphi production was the first occasion that an ancient drama was enacted in an open-air theatre in modern Greece: Sophocles’ Antigone was performed in the newly-excavated Herodes Atticus theatre in 1867. ³ Until this production, however, there was no ‘living dramatic movement’ ⁴ , previous productions having been antiquarian exercises for an élite. This one, however, has been credited with inspiring all subsequent productions of Greek tragedy, particuarly those at Epidauros.