ABSTRACT
This chapter begins with a problem of classification. Philip Saville's version of the most famous of all Greek tragedies, Oedipus the King (1967), could at times appear to be a film in the theatrical mode. Much of the drama, after all, is shot in the amphitheatre at Dodona where the players dispose themselves in acting areas that sometimes recall those of ancient dramatic performances. The fact that there is no audience within the theatre is of no great relevance to this question, since, for example, Tyrone Guthrie's version of the same play (seepp. 51–5) is acted out in what looks like a (modern, indoor) theatrical space without an audience witnessing it. On the other hand, as the film proceeds, there is less and less attention to acting within the acting areas. The tiers of the ruined theatre are used by the performers as readily as the orchestra or the space between orchestra and skene façade, even though these tiers constituted the theatron or audience area of the ancient theatre.
