Oliver Taplin
Greek Tragedy in Action.
University of California Press, 1978. First edition. 0520037049 x/203 pages.
Volume, measuring approximately 6" x 9", is bound in black cloth, with stamped silver lettering to spine. Top edge of text block displays foxing, with milder foxing to fore edge. Book is otherwise in fine condition, with solid binding, clean and bright interior. Dust jacket exhibits light shelfwear. Jacket is preserved in mylar cover.
"Greek tragedy has been the subject of a vast body of scholarly work, yet rarely have the plays been studied as works to be seen and heard. The idea, stemming from Aristotle, that the plays may best be treated as texts for reading has been so pervasive that they have so pervasive that they have been neglected as dramatic works for performance in the theater. This book redresses the balance with a new and exciting critique of the greatest Greek tragedies. 
Oliver Taplin concentrates on nine plays -- Aeschylus' "Agamennon," "Choephoroi" ("The Women Bearing Libations") and "Euminides" ("The Gracious Goddesses"); Sophocles' "Aias" ("Ajax"), "Oidipous Tyrannos" ("Oedipus the King"), and "Philoktetes"; and Euripides' "Hippolytos," "Ion," and "Bakchai" ("The Bacchant Women"). He uses these plays to discuss the significance of stage action in Greek tragedy, drawing theatrical techniques and stage directions out of the details of the texts."