The Archive of Performances of Greek and Roman Drama (APGRD) is a research project based at the University of Oxford, England, founded in 1996 by Edith Hall and Oliver Taplin. The current director is Fiona Macintosh.
Overview
The APGRD's focus is the study of performances of ancient drama and epic worldwide, ranging from the original performances in antiquity to the present day. It also runs a number of programmes promoting new writing and performance, including the 2005–2011 Onassis Programme, which commissioned, developed and produced professional work from artists from around the world, including Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott and Yaël Farber.
The APGRD was praised by Oxford University for its engagement with authors, directors and other theatre practitioners, and was selected as one of the university's Impacts showcase projects for helping to "sustain the distinctive and dynamic nature of the UK theatre". The project's publications have been described as playing "a pivotal role in establishing the parameters and methodologies of the study of the reception of Classical drama in performance".
Archival collections
The APGRD maintains and preserves a number of archival collections. The centrepiece is the APGRD's own research archive, a collection of material relating to modern performances of ancient drama. The APGRD also holds a number of other collections, including:
The Leyhausen-Spiess Collection - the collected papers of German director and academic Wilhelm Leyhausen, founder of the Delphic Institute. The David Raeburn Collection - a collection of papers and records (including promptbooks) belonging to classicist and translator David Raeburn, who also produced the Bradfield School Greek play. The Abd'Elkader Farrah collection - designs and artwork for several of the Greek and Shakespearian productions of the Algerian theatre designer Abd'Elkader Farrah (also known as Abdel Farrah).
In addition, the APGRD's performance database has records covering more than 10,000 modern productions of ancient drama and epic.
APGRD e-books
Medea, a performance history (published 2016) is a multimedia/interactive e-book on the production history of Euripides’ Medea – an ancient Greek tragedy about a mother who, betrayed by her husband, exacts revenge by killing her children. The object-rich ebook draws on a unique collection of archival material and research at the APGRD and uses images, film, unique interviews and digital objects to tell the story of a play that has inspired countless interpretations, onstage and onscreen, in dance, drama and opera across the globe from antiquity to the present.
The ebook is free to download and is available either as an iBook for Apple devices (via iTunes) or as an EPUB. The ebook is based upon and updates Medea in Performance, 1500-2000, edited by Edith Hall, Fiona Macintosh, and Oliver Taplin.
A second e-book by the APGRD, Agamemnon, a performance history, which focuses on performances of Aeschylus' Agamemnon, is forthcoming (2020).
Selected publications
A number of books have been published under the auspices of the APGRD. These include: