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‘May well turn out to be the most important study
of all facets of theatre to be published in this century’
— Stage
Philip Freund has spent over thirty years writing a monumental
history of the theatre. The Stage by Stage series is a chronicle
of world theatre from primitive rites and enactments of myths
to contemporary drama and will be published in a series of
volumes.
This first one, The Birth of Theatre, traces the evolution
of classical drama from its beginnings in Egyptian and middle
eastern religious ritual and particularly the Greek mystical
cult of Dionysus, through the golden age of the Periclean
period in Athens, and ending with the major Roman playwrights
of the late republican and early imperial age.
The book includes detailed discussions of the extant plays
— tragedies and comedies — of Aeschylus, Sophocles
and Euripides. This is followed by accounts of notable productions
and revivals, especially in the USA and Britain over the past
fifty years and earlier where descriptions or assessments
are available. The book moves on to discuss the development
of Middle and New Comedy in Greece and the works of Plautus,
Terence and Horace.
The product of vast learning, enormous research and, above
all, a passion for theatre, these volumes represent a unique
and extraordinary achievement in the literature of the stage.
‘Excellent . . .The richness is in the details,
and nothing is omitted’ — Publishers Weekly
‘An accessible, non-judgmental, enjoyable introduction to Greek and Roman
theatre, told with enthusiasm as well as scholarship.’ — Nottingham
Evening Post
Also available in the Stage by Stage series:
Oriental
Theatre
Dramatis Personae
Laughter and Grandeur
PHILIP FREUND is a novelist, poet, documentary
film writer and playwright as well as essayist, literary
critic and anthropologist. He is a Professor Emeritus
of Fordham University, New York, and has taught and
lectured on drama and related subjects at other universities.
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