Colloquium

“Politics of Violence and Politics of Life in Ancient Theatre:

From the classical fifth century BC to the twenty-first century AC”

Dedicated to Chara Bakonikola.

1-3 November 2023

Central Building of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and Amphitheatre at the Library of the School of Philosophy NKUA, Athens, Greece.

The Conference “Politics of Violence and Politics of Life in Ancient Theatre: From the classical fifth century BC to the twenty-first century AC”, dedicated to Chara Bakonikola (1948-2022), was co-organized by the Department of Theatre Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens and the Hellenic Foundation for Culture, with collaborating institutions the Centre for Ancient Rhetoric and Drama (Department of Philology, University of Peloponnese) and the Laboratory of Ancient Drama and Theatre Research (Department of Theatre Studies of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens). 42 senior and junior researchers, philologists and theatrologists, from 18 different Departments and 15 different university institutions, plus 2 directors of the contemporary theatre stage, investigated, based on different critical approaches and case studies, the issue of political violence and/or biopolitics in ancient, tragic and comic, drama, as well as in its re-enactment by the modern and contemporary ancient-themed playwrighting and theatre practice. The Conference was attended by a large audience of students, researchers and theatre lovers, who developed a fruitful dialogue with the participants.