Cambridge Greek Play

The Cambridge Greek Play is a play performed in Ancient Greek by students and alumni of the University of Cambridge, England. The event is held once every three years and is a tradition which started in 1882 with the Ajax of Sophocles.[1]

The history of the early years may be found in P. E. Easterling's The Early Years of the Cambridge Greek Play: 1883–1912.[2]

Among famous names involved in those early days were Rupert Brooke as the Herald in Aeschylus' Eumenides (1906), Sir Hubert Parry as the composer of incidental music to Aristophanes' The Birds (1883) – the Bridal March is still used in weddings – and Ralph Vaughan Williams as composer of incidental music to The Wasps, also by Aristophanes (1909). More recently, actor Tom Hiddleston played Orestes in Sophocles' Electra in 2001.[1]

The Cambridge Greek Play is now hosted by the historic Cambridge Arts Theatre.[1]

  1. ^ a b c "The History of the Cambridge Greek Play". Retrieved 25 September 2017.
  2. ^ P. E. Easterling, "The Early Years of the Cambridge Greek Play: 1883–1912". In Christopher Stray (ed.), Classics in 19th and 20th Century Cambridge: Curriculum, Culture and Community. Cambridge Philological Society, Suppl. 24. Cambridge: Cambridge Philological Society, 1998. ISBN 0-906014-23-9.