Autorentext
Andrew Walker White is an American theatre artist, cultural historian, and theatre critic. As a performer his work embraces everything from Shakespeare and Chekhov to dance theatre and mime; he is a former company member of Source Theatre and Théâtre Le Neon, both in the Washington, DC area. As a historian he has devoted himself to post-classical Greek culture, especially the theatre and drama of Byzantium, and has translated key late antique and medieval Greek texts. A veteran of the Fulbright Program, White has conducted research on site in Greece and Turkey, and has lectured in both the United States and Europe.

Klappentext

The first full-length, interdisciplinary study of the Greek performing arts - theatre, rhetoric and ritual - between antiquity and the Renaissance.

Zusammenfassung
A groundbreaking study exploring the origins of Byzantine ritual, the rites of Greek Orthodoxy, and its unique relationship with traditional theatre. The work argues that the Church's rites were composed by public intellectuals, and performs an in-depth study of a late Byzantine rite, the Service of the Furnace.

Inhalt

Introduction; Part I. Byzantine Spatial, Performance and Musical Practices: 1. Spatial practices in Byzantium; 2. Ritual versus theatrical performance in Byzantium; 3. Musical practices in Byzantium; Part II. A Study of the Service of the Furnace: 4. Origins of the Service; 5. The Service's historical context; Conclusion; Appendix 1. The Service of the Furnace, Athens 4027; Appendix 2. The Service of the Furnace, Athens 2406; Appendix 3. The Service of the Furnace, Iviron 1120; Appendix 4. The Service of the Furnace, Sinai 1527; Appendix 5. The Service of the Furnace, Lavra 165; Appendix 6. Archbishop Symeon's Dialogue in Christ; Appendix 7. The Russian Furnace Play; Glossary.