This volume offers an approach to classical theatre and its reception – specifically in the English Renaissance – not only through texts, but also through performance, by placing the focus on the embodiment of the gods on stage. The volume's stimulating overview of a topic that has so far received little discussion will prove to be extremely useful for research in this area. The bibliography is extensive, where a wide range of classical sources with the original texts in Latin and ancient Greek, accompanied by translations, as well as neoclassical texts in English are catalogued. The study is completed with several images of the ancient world, or inspired by it, which support the text.
The book is divided into an introduction, six main chapters with subsections and an afterword. The first chapter, ‘Approaching Divinity’, introduces a diverse range of examples regarding the representation of divinity on stage. This chapter covers the interaction between divinity and the different characters on stage, attending to both theatrical and metatheatrical matters. The chapter includes analysis of the three great Greek tragedians: Aeschylus’ Oresteia, Sophocles’ Philoctetes, Antigone and Ajax, and Euripides’ Hippolytus, Bacchae and Medea; and also of comedy: Aristophanes’ Frogs, Birds and Peace. Furthermore, the authors pay attention to George Peele's The Arraignment of Paris (1584), Shakespeare's Timon of Athens and The Winter's Tale, Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus and Thomas Heywood's The Apology for Actors (1612).
The next chapter, ‘Under the Actor's Spell: Audiences in Euripides’ Helen and Marlowe's Doctor Faustus’, argues that both authors explore the mimetic effect: the manner in which actors hold power over spectators is similar to witnessing the supernatural. Dixon and Garrison emphasise the idea of Helen as an eidolon – she is a mortal and, at the same time, a product of divine machinations; Helen is considered a ‘ghosted role’ (M. Carlson, The Haunted Stage: the Theatre as Memory Machine [2003], p. 65). Thus, how the theme of metamorphosis is present in classical and early modern acting is demonstrated. Finally, it is argued that Lucian could be the bridge between Euripides’ Helen and Marlowe's Helen, and that Marlowe could have known of Lucian's work via Erasmus’ Latin edition.
The third chapter, ‘An Actor Ascends: Status and Identity in Plautus’ Amphitruo and the Court Masque’, is focused on Plautus’ comedy Amphitruo and two main court masque plays: Samuel Daniel's The Vision of the Twelve Goddesses (1604) and Francis Beaumont's The Masque of the Inner Temple and Gray's Inn (1613). The main point in this chapter is mutability, which was inherent to the nature of belief systems in classical and Renaissance cultures. Renaissance masques involved elaborate performance and relied mainly on spectacle. These two masques are compared with Plautus’ Amphitruo, where the actor who embodied Jupiter was able to demonstrate the power to transcend his own identity. In essence, the actor's voice is considered a tool for constructing the reality of the stage.
Chapter 4, ‘Authoring Gods in Aeschylus’ Oresteia and Shakespeare's Hamlet’, offers an analytic comparative study of Aeschylus’ Oresteia and Shakespeare's Hamlet, based on how both dramatists express the limits of their own power through metaphors of gods in their play's characters. Special attention is given to the character of Clytemnestra and her anger about Agamemnon sacrificing their daughter Iphigenia and how the divine messages about it become ambiguous in the mortal sphere. Also, specific attention is paid to the comparison between Hamlet and Orestes’ revenge against his mother, Clytemnestra. The chapter concludes with a compelling and little-known version of Hamlet with elements of Aeschylus’ Oresteia: Heiner Müller's Die Hamletmaschine (1977), which emphasises the notion of the human actor taking on the role of author.
The last main chapter is ‘To Die Is Human, To Act Is Divine’, which turns to humans, specifically to actors. The authors address Shakespeare's King Lear and Hamlet, and Sophocles’ Antigone. These plays have in common the lament of humans due to the lack of gods or show a relationship between humans and divinity. There is also space for Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra and its dramatisation of the complex interrelationship between gods and heroes. Moreover, there is an allusion to the film Cleopatra (1963), starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Another interesting main topic in this chapter is how actors, through their roles, can achieve a complex form of immortality. With this in mind, references to specific actors in Renaissance England and antiquity are provided (pp. 125–6).
The volume closes with a final chapter, which functions as a sort of epilogue, ‘Afterword: Entertaining Gods in Zimmerman's Metamorphoses’. Mary Zimmerman's Metamorphoses (1996) is a contemporary neoclassical play that pushes the limits of theatricality. The author dramatises a handful of tales from Ovid's Metamorphoses and one myth from Apuleius’ Metamorphoses – also known as The Golden Ass. Dixon and Garrison focus on the myth of Baucis and Philemon, which was not dramatised on stage in the classical period. This jump in time from the seventeenth century to the twentieth is stimulating for readers, as it shows a neoclassical play that underscores both performance and metatheatricality, and this gives a wider panoramic on the main topic of the book from a refreshing point of view.
The selection of images, eight in total, illustrating the text completes the scope of the work. The index, including names, authors, mythological characters, literary and theatrical concepts, helps readers to navigate the book. As stated earlier, the bibliography is exhaustive. Despite this, there is a lack of secondary bibliography outside the English-speaking sphere. Another minor inconvenience is that the notes are at the end of the volume, organised by chapter. Perhaps it would have been more practical for readers if they were situated at the end of each chapter or as footnotes, especially in the digital version.
This work shows great erudition, since in addition to the main sources of study, there are numerous allusions to other classical and neoclassical texts. The fact that it features analysis of both tragedy and comedy is a rarity and therefore one of the volume's strengths. Ultimately, it offers a dialogue between literature, theatre and performance, anthropology and religion in a pragmatic and reinvigorating way. Undoubtedly, it will be a work of reference for researchers of classical reception, drama performance, divinity and the English Renaissance.
