- Role doubling with Tecmessa in Sophocles’ Aias
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Abstract:
- All too often Greek drama is studied by students of the Classics as a purely literary production, and while we lament what is lost by such text-focused studies we are reticent to venture into the unfamiliar world of the dramatic production to reconstruct the effects of performance. This paper takes one small step in precisely that direction, exploring the impact of role-doubling on fifth-century Athenian tragedy through a close reading of Sophocles’ Aias. It begins with a consideration of the very nature of role-doubling and whether its dramatic effects were even felt by a fifth-century spectator, before exploring the potential casting arrangements for the Aias and how these have been variously interpreted (or, as is sometimes the case, overlooked) in previous analyses of the play. Then, after establishing what I believe to be the preferred casting arrangement for the Aias, the power of role-doubling is explored through a consideration of Tecmessa’s place within the play, demonstrating how her character is greatly enriched by a consideration of her doubling with Odysseus, just as his role is in turn given added depth through their actorial connection. This close reading of one (relatively) minor character and her elevation through dual literary and performative aspects of the Aias serves as a remarkable reminder of the complex, multifaceted nature of characters beyond just the tragic hero, while the insight offered by the addition of this singular, performative consideration to an otherwise literary reading of the play speaks to the power of such holistic analyses of not only Sophoclean tragedy, but of Athenian drama as a whole.
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