Trent University Classics Drama Group Presents a Play in Peterborough and Toronto

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Students and faculty take "A Man Who Hates People" on the road

Wednesday, January 26, 2011, Peterborough

The Classics Drama Group at Trent University is pleased to present A Man Who Hates People, a comedy adapted from Menander¹s Dyskolos playing at Nozhem Theatre on January 27, 28, February 3 and 4 at 8 p.m. and on January 29 at 3 p.m., and at U of T¹s Ignatieff Theatre in Toronto on February 5 at 3 p.m.

Directed by Dr. George Kovacs, assistant professor, Ancient History and Classics, A Man Who Hates People is a play that centres on an elderly farmer whose unkind reputation is well known. When a young city boy comes along, seeking his daughter¹s hand in marriage, his perspective on life begins to change. With the help of a cook, some revellers, a local god, and the good work of his step-son, he is shown the error of his ways and faced with the challenge to see the good in people.

Set in the fourth century BC, the production also features selections from The Laughter Lover, a third-century AD collection of jokes and anecdotes.

³Menander is the first playwright to introduce a true naturalism to theatre,² said Prof. Kovacs. ³His characters are real; his settings are familiar, even after two millennia. We all know a Knemon, a Sostratos, a Gorgias, and for all their shortcomings, we cannot help but wish them well.²

The Classics Drama Group is the longest running student production company at Trent University. They have been producing ancient Greek plays in English translation since 1994. A Man Who Hates People is their nineteenth production, but this is the first time they have performed a play more recent than 401 BC: Menander's Dyskolos was first produced in 316 BC, in ancient Athens.

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For more information, please contact: George Kovacs, assistant professor, Ancient History and Classics, Trent University, 705-748-1011, ext. 7679 or visit the Facebook page.