Sharing in the Action

There is a close connection between the events dramatized in the plots of classical Athenian tragedy and tragedy's distinctive form—its signature combination of individual actors and a chorus. Sharing in the Action revisits the plots enacted in tragedies to reveal how they are significantly conditioned by the wider phenomenon of the choral performance.

In Athenian tragedy, the protagonists portrayed by the actors tend to receive attention, but there has been growing recognition of the cultural centrality of the chorus itself as an institution that enacted, modeled, and perpetuated the structures and values of ancient communities. Over the course of a decade, Sheila Murnaghan has uncovered and amplified the role of the chorus member within the tragic plot. Ultimately, Sharing in the Action is a collection that brings together bold reinterpretations and new and nuanced perspectives on how the choral odes of tragedy were in close dialogue with the other forms of choral poetry out of which tragedy evolved and that persisted alongside it.