|Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute||Home| Part of the play’s
attractiveness to me was its brevity (65 pages) and the
realistic plot which even now, over 2000 years later, is a
relevant contemporary theme. Add to this the fact that there can
be as few as three or as many as thirteen parts (no more than
three speaking actors were allowed on stage at the same
time—presumably a rule of competitions like the Greater Dionysia
and the Lenaea—to be explained later). This is especially suited
to E.S.O.L. classes which vary considerably in size throughout
the day, for those teachers looking for an “one-size-fits-all”
play. Finally, and most importantly for beginning level or
remedial readers are the realistic speech patterns employed. All
the marks of everyday speech are there—the colloquial idiom, the
simple clear vocabulary, the pauses, repetitions, and broken
sentences—making the play truly accessible to today’s student.
The production of plays at either of these two festivals was
entirely in the hands of the state.