Exploring Potential Relationships Between the Fabula of LXXJudith and Hellenistic Theatre

Abstract

It is well known that LXXJudith displays an innate suitability for theatrical interpretation or re-enactment. Previous research findings have revealed that the Greek language of LXXJudith, by default, prompts an urgency for immediate and dramatic action and strongly suggests the influence of orality. In this regard, Wills has gone so far as to suggest that some aspect of LXXJudith might have once been performed at dinners or during Jewish festivals. It is in this speculative spirit that this paper explores the text of chapter 13 from LXXJudith to determine why it is so suitable for dramatic re-interpretation as a stage production or visually entertaining (albeit didactic) re-enactment. Here, the authors cautiously consider the possibility that important key events in LXXJudith 13 may have been informed by a Hellenistic Jewish stage play/theatrical performance or was written as a consequence of observing Greek theatre for its final structure. The authors make deliberate use of key aspects of Storey and Allan’s performance criticism theories and accordingly attempt to recreate elements of a hypothetical performance of chapter 13, based solely on the Greek text, in order to determine the most likely meaning that would have been conveyed to a Hellenistic Jewish audience. Consequently, a reconstruction of possible conditions on stage plus the effects of the accompanying dialogue are hypothesised. The authors do not claim that there is any undisputed evidence that LXXJudith was ever staged as a theatrical performance in the Hellenistic period. However, from the standpoint of performance criticism they conclude that indeed, there are various elements present in the Greek text that would have made it easy to perform in a theatrical context.

Keywords:

• LXX Judith
• performance
• Hellenistic theatre
• props