JOEY: a Brief (and Somewhat Wildly Inaccurate) Biography
The Aristophanes family has always been clouded in doubt and mystery. Aside from the great comic playwright, little is known of the clan itself, save for three nephews. Skipticus was a soldier and three-time Olympic pankrationist, while Kritias was a noted politician and, in his later years, publisher who provided us with the first full copies of the works of Socrates. The third is Josefos.
Josefos Aristophanes was born circa 425 BC in Athens and lived in what was then known as Daedalidai, the section that housed inventors, poets, and artisians. Nutured by his playwright uncle, Josefos was groomed from an early age for a life in the theatre. We know little about his formative years, save that he was a precocious and sometimes difficult student.
His onstage debut was as a dancer in one of his uncle's Festival plays -- and not a very good one, as History tells us. It was shortly after this that he broke away from the family and founded his own company, for whom he wrote and produced some of the most unusual plays of the Hellenic era. Although all of them have been lost, we know, for example, that his first was an adaptation of one of his uncle's failed comedies, Mindicus. The plot was standard Aristophanes fare (a man complains so much about his treatment by the gods that Zeus calls him on it and offers to change lives with him), but in Joey's hands, it became an entirely new type of theatre, one that violated all of the guidelines set down in the Poetics. The judges were furious, but trhe crowd loved it and clammored that he be given the Festival prize. The judges ultimately did so, but new rules were set in place that would prevent a repeat victory.
His bold experimentation continued to push the boundaries of the performing arts, including such innovations as the first recorded appearance of women on stage, the development of the multi-act script, and an entirely new approach to scenography. Sadly, none of these innovations survived his lifetime, and yet enough traces remained that their re-discovery was inevitable.
In his History of Daedalidai, Cianos writes extensively about Josefos' personal life. We know that while still a young man, he took a life partner named Maxos, a carpenter. It has been suggested that, despite his claim to rural family ties in Thessaly, Maxos was actually the last remnant of a royal family from outside Greece, although this has never been confirmed. We also know that, contrary to standard Hellenic custom, Josefos and Maxos did not hold slaves -- rather, they treated their cook and maid as employees and family members, an act that no doubt was seen as radical to the extreme.
No reliable portraits of either man exist , and the date of their deaths is unknown.
Details of his life can be found in the "Athens" section of Pan Historia.
HOME
All text and imagery on this website is copyright Sean Martin. "Joey Aristophanes", "Virtual Site", and "AtThisStage" are registered trademarks. Don't even think about it, okay?
