Hackett (2014) p/b 80pp £7.95 (ISBN 9781624661228)
This is an excellent translation of this always intriguing play: clear, simple, up-to-date English, accurate as a few spot checks quickly show, yet using modern expressions (e.g. ‘have a heart, sir’ at l. 508). It is clearly designed for stage performance as well as reading; M. is founder of the Aquila Theatre as well as a professor of classics. The introduction has a section on how Greek plays were staged, and the text and notes include suggested stage directions. W.’s introduction draws out and discusses the issues which make this play so interesting: whether Neoptolemus really changes his mind, or is he still, at the end, trying to trick Philoctetes? – W. thinks perhaps yes; most others, including me, think no; the significance of Heracles’ apparition at the end (an unusual device for Sophocles: could he have been Odysseus in disguise, yet another piece of trickery?). W. gives a good account of why the Athenian audience would have been on the edge of their seats.
This translation would be appropriate for anyone doing a classics or drama course, with or without the language. No prior knowledge of the mythological background is assumed; everything one needs to know is explained in the introduction and notes.
Colin McDonald