![]() ![]() Zeus let out a hearty chortle, but Hera, always a sore loser, struck Tiresias blind. A woman receives nine times as much pleasure from lovemaking as does a man.” When Tiresias came before Zeus and Hera to answer that famous question, “Who enjoys lovemaking more?” he smiled and replied, “That’s simple. Yet, as neither had any proof, the only way to solve the argument was to find someone who knew both sides of the story. Hera was equally unwavering in her opinion. It was true that Hera never strayed, but he couldn’t believe his gender gained more pleasure in bed. Or, at least, you must enjoy lovemaking an awful lot, or why would you always be on the prowl?” Zeus was caught. Interested in the performing arts? See what UNH's department of theatre and dance has to offer.“No, Zeus, men do. ![]() There is no admission charge for “ Lives of Tiresias” at the Hennessy Theatre, and all are welcome to attend. “I didn’t have to push the resemblance to today,” Richman says. “Lives of Tiresias” follows the prophet through many of his literary appearances and then brings him into the present to show how a modern-day tyrant is directly descended from those kings of the far past. That desire to know the future but to believe it if and only if the prediction matches what we want is not something specific to ancient Greece, Richman points out. Kings sought his advice,” Richman explains. Many people thought he could see the future. While Tiresias may have been born thousands of years ago, his plight resonates today: “Tiresias lived in Thebes for hundreds of years. The production is directed by Derek Lucci ‘94, who added significant rewriting and reshaping to the current version, and also includes another talented UNH graduate, Jessica Miller ’13 - who Richman notes has performed extensively in the Seacoast area since graduation - as well as current student Morgan Simmons ’19, Richman’s “superstar stage manager.” Receiving a Brierley Award for Excellence in Teaching, Richman decided to use a portion of the funds to finance the project here at UNH. Scott Smith and Stephen Brunet in UNH’s classics, humanities and Italian studies department for their contribution to his creative process in the form of a definitive text for his research, their “ Anthology of Classical Myth.” Richman has woven past and present, mythology and his own creativity. “I’ve stolen a lot, and made things up,” he says, crediting his colleagues Stephen M. “I’m blind, so there was an obvious connection.” Richman even played Tiresias in a production of "The Bacchae" during his doctoral work at Stanford in 1977: “I thought I was being typecast, until a critic said I was not convincing as a blind man,” he says with a smile.Īs to his process for writing the play, Richman quotes T.S. “He is the archetypal blind prophet,” Richman says, describing Tiresias’s presence in works by authors as varied as Homer and T.S. He and Rubino then brought “Lives of Tiresias” to the Jefferson Market Playhouse in New York, with Rubino co-writing and directing that initial production. Richman created and wrote the play during his spring sabbatical and performed a reading with several of his UNH theatre and dance colleagues in the Hennessy Theatre. ![]() Why not write that play?”Īnd so it began. Richman smiles, recalling his hesitation at first, and his wife’s response to the idea: “You’ve been obsessed with Tiresias for years. Rubino agreed, suggesting that after teaching theatre for 40 years, he must certainly have a play to write. ![]() Following his work with her on a film about Shakespeare and memory, Richman asked Rubino if she would be interested in collaborating with him on a project for his sabbatical this past spring. About five years ago, he received an email from a former student working in New York City that led to a connection with Cecilia Rubino of The New School. Richman, who is a professor of theatre and of humanities, explains how this play that “charts the uncanny and failed career of Tiresias, the blind prophet of Thebes” came to be. “Lives of Tiresias,” he explains, examines several key questions: “What does it mean to have sight, insight, no sight? What does it mean to have lived and loved in the body of a man and of a woman? Why did generations of Theban kings reject Tiresias's advice, and would he have done better as an advisor had he been living in our own turbulent times?” 27 at 6 p.m.Ĭost: Free Learn more about the initial production. ![]()
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