This article examines the three changes of scene in extant Greek tragedy, which take place after Aeschylus’ Eumenides 234 and Libation Bearers 584, and Sophocles’ Aias 814. They have been much discussed, and scholars have expressed a wide range of views; but the present author brings to bear not only study of the texts, but the results of actual productions which he has directed in reconstructions of the original Athenian theatre configuration. It is argued from the universally acknowledged scene change in Eumenides that there were indeed changes of scene near the mid-point of the other two tragedies; that four successive events were needed to signal a change of scene; and that these occurred in Libation Bearers and Aias as well as in Eumenides. An Appendix is devoted to the degree of realistic credibility in the original staging of tragedy at Athens, and three others address important issues which would have diverted from the argument if included in the main text.
