Ancient fragments

By Laura Swift

Laura Swift worked with the theatre company Potential Difference to develop a new piece inspired by fragmentary plays of Euripides, and the methodology of working with fragments. The aim was to explore the ancient texts, but also to connect them to ways in we all experience life as fragments: for example, unreliable memories, misunderstandings, and how we fill in gaps in our vision of the world. The project obtained additional funding from the Being Human festival, the UK's first national festival of the humanities, which also gave it a slot in the festival programme. It was also supported by the Society for the Promotion of Hellenic Studies. After two weeks of rehearsals and workshops, we developed an early showing of ideas followed by a panel discussion on the creative process and the collaboration. This was performed at Rich Mix in Hackney in November 2014.

The next stage of the project will be a more developed series of showings at Ovalhouse in London in April 2015.