Between Individual Trauma and Collective Mourning: the reception of Sophocles’ Ajax on French stages in the 1990s

This chapter explores the articulation of individual trauma and collective mourning in two productions of Sophocle’s Ajax: Ajax et Philoctète directed by Christian Schiaretti in 1991 and Ajax-Philoctète directed by Georges Lavaudant in 1997. With the help of performance analysis, this chapter aims to contribute towards an academic interpretation of the play that decentres the hero. It is also an opportunity to explore and outline the specific history of the reception of Greek Tragedy in 1990s in France.