At the turn of the twenty-first century the chorus captured the attention of readers of Greek tragedy, especially anglophone scholars. In the field of cultural anthropology, the indirect influence of Victor Turner’s work on ‘theatrical performance’ was particularly significant. Inspired by Wilhelm Dilthey’s notion of experience as Erlebnis, and on the basis of ethnological field research on the initiation rites of male and female adolescents in the Ndembu tribe of present-day Zambia, Turner formulated a view of culture as a collection of individual experiences made available to society by means of expression (both verbal and physical). Theatrical performance is thus a ‘structured unit of experience’, a processual accomplishment or ritualized staging of the social drama.

This chapter examines the fidelity discourse as applied to Greek drama and how it has affected the ways in which adaptations have tended to be detrimentally regarded. The chapter challenges the premise that we have access to the original versions of these plays, and suggests ways in which we can approach adaptation as a positive act of creativity that has enabled the work to survive, rather than a kind of debasement of the canon. The chapter also shows how the fidelity discourse exerts a negative influence on the adaptation of Greek drama, by using examples drawn from the author's own work on adaptations with the Aquila Theatre public programming aimed at the veteran community in the United States. By briefly describing these performance projects, the chapter hopes to show how an informed approach to adaptation can produce new ways in which to increase engagement with and knowledge of ancient dramatic works.

This chapter discusses how translation and adaptation are key factors in the 'thick' cultural processes that reconnect past and present. Starting from the premise that translations are works in their own right, the argument shows how translation and adaptation of works from other times, places, and languages are themselves forms of reception and of cultural commentary. Special attention is given to situating mediations, displacements, and moments of heightened receptivity in language, performance, and hermeneutics. Three examples from the translation and performance history of Aeschylus' Oresteia are analysed in depth: the subtitled YouTube production of the Watchman's scene by Barefaced Greek; the collaboration in text, performance, and mask design between Tony Harrison and Jocelyn Herbert; and the symbiosis of translation and adaptation in Yael Farber's Molora. The concluding section of the discussion points to future directions in the relationship between translation/adaptation and the construction of cultural memories.