Reading Greek Tragedy Online: Philoctetes on YouTube

April 5, 2022

The Department of the Classics teamed up with Brandeis University to host the first-ever in-person episode of Reading Greek Tragedy Online on April 30, 2022. Professional actors from both the US and UK performed a dynamic reading of Sophocles’ Philoctetes, directed by Paul O’Mahony of Out of Chaos Theatre. Between scenes, Professor Joel Christensen of Brandeis University led a discussion about the play with Professors David Elmer and Naomi Weiss, exploring its themes of isolation, sickness, and integration and thinking about what it meant to see such a performance in person at this stage in the COVID-19 pandemic. The event was sponsored by the Division of Arts and Sciences and the Department of the Classics at Harvard, and by the School of Arts and Sciences and Department of Classical Studies at Brandeis. You can watch the whole event on the YouTube channel of the Center for Hellenic Studies.

Philoctetes event poster