Dan Goad
Dan is an independent academic with research interests in the reception of the ancient world in all forms of popular culture, including theatre, film, television and video games. He is also a freelance popular culture journalist and podcaster.
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Thesis and Dissertation
In this dissertation I will be demonstrating how there is so much work to be done on this genre, by starting to analyse the work of one high-profile musical theatre practitioner and two examples of musical theatre’s reception of the ancient world – Stephen Sondheim and his musicals A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and The Frogs. I’ll be looking at both the ancient and modern background to each production and showing the parallels that exist between the two time-frames. How the material was adapted will be an important area to look at; for example what was borrowed from the ancient world, what was left out, what was invented for the new version etc. With any similarities and differences I’ll be asking why these choices were made. I’ll be demonstrating that the ancient world is a perfect setting for Sondheim’s predilection towards subtle social comment, in contrast to his collaborator on both musicals, Burt Shevelove. As we will see, Shevelove’s chief interest seems to be in the production concept and not in the message, an approach which will put him at odds with Sondheim on occasion. In the conclusion I’ll be pointing out the two musicals’ differing approaches to the Plautine and Aristophanic material and why I believe Forum should be termed a “homage” whereas The Frogs is an adaptation.
Following an introduction which outlines the methodology, models and background literature, Chapter One outlines the academic reception of the play in the 20th and 21st centuries, drawing out key themes that have been interpreted as being within the play. Chapter Two discusses transmission and translation of the play, following the manuscript’s journey from ancient Athens to modern day English translations. Chapter Three discusses reflections on the play, that is other plays that are not direct adaptations, but can be seen to have been influenced by it in some way. Chapters Four, Five, Six and Seven focus on the theatrical reception of the play, divided geographically. Chapter three therefore focuses on Britain, chapter four North America and chapter six Africa and Australasia. Chapter five focuses solely on the most influential and high-profile adaptation, the 2004 Broadway version with music by Stephen Sondheim. These chapters draw patterns throughout the performance reception, both within individual geographical areas and across the thesis as a whole. Trends include politics, staging, music and the
pedagogical interest in performing Frogs.
The thesis will conclude with a short conclusion reiterating the general themes and trends seen throughout.
Conference Presentations
The first is the Romulan Star Empire, from the Star Trek television and film series. First appearing in the original Star Trek series in 1966, the Romulans quickly developed an antagonistic relationship with Captain Kirk and his crew. As their history began to be explored, their links to ancient Rome were shown to go much deeper than their name. From their relationship with Spock’s Vulcan race – the Trojans to the Romulans’ Romans – to their political system, the parallels are many.
The second empire is the Tevinter Imperium from the Dragon Age series of computer games. The story of Dragon Age takes its cues from fantasy such as Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire, but much of the backstory is influenced by the real world. The continent the game takes place in, Thedas, closely resembles medieval Europe. Playing the role of the Byzantine Empire is the Tevinter Imperium. One of the first locations in the game is Ostagar, an abandoned Tevinter fortress serving as a Hadrian’s Wall to keep out the barbarian “Wilders” beyond. The game, its sequel and spin-off material reveal that the Imperium once spanned the continent, but has now had its empire split smaller countries. This is the first clue to the shared history of the fictional and real empires.
With both of these empires I’ll demonstrate a relationship with ancient Rome that goes deeper and deeper the more you to delve into it. The ultimate question I’ll be asking is, has Rome been used because it is an easy and convenient model or has it been deliberately chosen because of the connotations it brings?
In a trend that began with The Sign of the Cross (1932) and further popularised by the run of films from Quo Vadis (1951) to The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), many of the classic “swords-and-sandals” epics all featured a very similar dynamic. There would be a hero who, through accident or design, was forced to be the figurehead for a struggle against Rome. The identity of the hero was versatile: they might be Roman, they might be a slave, they might even be a personal friend of the Emperor. But at the heart of it was always this conflict between the hero – and his small group of allies – against a representative of the all-powerful state.
When the Roman epics make their return in the 21st Century something changes. Gladiator (2000) gave us the same hero struggling against the Empire. But following this films such as Centurion (2010), The Eagle (2011) and even King Arthur (2004) show us a small group of Romans battling barbarian hordes far from their homeland.
In many ways the dynamic has remained the same. The heroes are still fighting against a more powerful force. But crucially, the Romans have switched from being the powerful force to being the heroes. This paper will analyse this changing role and hypothesise what might have precipitated this move, and especially looking at historical and cultural trends that might have contributed.
Papers
In this dissertation I will be demonstrating how there is so much work to be done on this genre, by starting to analyse the work of one high-profile musical theatre practitioner and two examples of musical theatre’s reception of the ancient world – Stephen Sondheim and his musicals A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and The Frogs. I’ll be looking at both the ancient and modern background to each production and showing the parallels that exist between the two time-frames. How the material was adapted will be an important area to look at; for example what was borrowed from the ancient world, what was left out, what was invented for the new version etc. With any similarities and differences I’ll be asking why these choices were made. I’ll be demonstrating that the ancient world is a perfect setting for Sondheim’s predilection towards subtle social comment, in contrast to his collaborator on both musicals, Burt Shevelove. As we will see, Shevelove’s chief interest seems to be in the production concept and not in the message, an approach which will put him at odds with Sondheim on occasion. In the conclusion I’ll be pointing out the two musicals’ differing approaches to the Plautine and Aristophanic material and why I believe Forum should be termed a “homage” whereas The Frogs is an adaptation.
Following an introduction which outlines the methodology, models and background literature, Chapter One outlines the academic reception of the play in the 20th and 21st centuries, drawing out key themes that have been interpreted as being within the play. Chapter Two discusses transmission and translation of the play, following the manuscript’s journey from ancient Athens to modern day English translations. Chapter Three discusses reflections on the play, that is other plays that are not direct adaptations, but can be seen to have been influenced by it in some way. Chapters Four, Five, Six and Seven focus on the theatrical reception of the play, divided geographically. Chapter three therefore focuses on Britain, chapter four North America and chapter six Africa and Australasia. Chapter five focuses solely on the most influential and high-profile adaptation, the 2004 Broadway version with music by Stephen Sondheim. These chapters draw patterns throughout the performance reception, both within individual geographical areas and across the thesis as a whole. Trends include politics, staging, music and the
pedagogical interest in performing Frogs.
The thesis will conclude with a short conclusion reiterating the general themes and trends seen throughout.
The first is the Romulan Star Empire, from the Star Trek television and film series. First appearing in the original Star Trek series in 1966, the Romulans quickly developed an antagonistic relationship with Captain Kirk and his crew. As their history began to be explored, their links to ancient Rome were shown to go much deeper than their name. From their relationship with Spock’s Vulcan race – the Trojans to the Romulans’ Romans – to their political system, the parallels are many.
The second empire is the Tevinter Imperium from the Dragon Age series of computer games. The story of Dragon Age takes its cues from fantasy such as Lord of the Rings and A Song of Ice and Fire, but much of the backstory is influenced by the real world. The continent the game takes place in, Thedas, closely resembles medieval Europe. Playing the role of the Byzantine Empire is the Tevinter Imperium. One of the first locations in the game is Ostagar, an abandoned Tevinter fortress serving as a Hadrian’s Wall to keep out the barbarian “Wilders” beyond. The game, its sequel and spin-off material reveal that the Imperium once spanned the continent, but has now had its empire split smaller countries. This is the first clue to the shared history of the fictional and real empires.
With both of these empires I’ll demonstrate a relationship with ancient Rome that goes deeper and deeper the more you to delve into it. The ultimate question I’ll be asking is, has Rome been used because it is an easy and convenient model or has it been deliberately chosen because of the connotations it brings?
In a trend that began with The Sign of the Cross (1932) and further popularised by the run of films from Quo Vadis (1951) to The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964), many of the classic “swords-and-sandals” epics all featured a very similar dynamic. There would be a hero who, through accident or design, was forced to be the figurehead for a struggle against Rome. The identity of the hero was versatile: they might be Roman, they might be a slave, they might even be a personal friend of the Emperor. But at the heart of it was always this conflict between the hero – and his small group of allies – against a representative of the all-powerful state.
When the Roman epics make their return in the 21st Century something changes. Gladiator (2000) gave us the same hero struggling against the Empire. But following this films such as Centurion (2010), The Eagle (2011) and even King Arthur (2004) show us a small group of Romans battling barbarian hordes far from their homeland.
In many ways the dynamic has remained the same. The heroes are still fighting against a more powerful force. But crucially, the Romans have switched from being the powerful force to being the heroes. This paper will analyse this changing role and hypothesise what might have precipitated this move, and especially looking at historical and cultural trends that might have contributed.