Download PROLOGUE: The Origins of Drama

PROLOGUE: The Origins of Drama
Twenty-five hundred years ago, two thousand years before Shakespeare, Western theatre was born in
Athens, Greece. Between 600 and 200 BC, the ancient Athenians created a theater culture whose
form, technique and terminology have lasted two millennia, and produced plays that are still among
the greatest works in theatre. Only two other periods in theatre history have equaled the greatness of
ancient Athens – Elizabethan England and the Twentieth Century. Elizabethan England produced
one great playwright in Shakespeare, but Athens produced at least five great playwrights. The
Twentieth Century produced thousands of plays and films, but they owed much to the innovations of
the ancient Athenians.
The Cult of Dionysus
The theater of Ancient Greece evolved from religious rites that date back to at least 1200 BC. At that
time Greece was populated by primitive tribes. In northern Greece, in an area called Thrice, there
arose a cult that worshipped Dionysus, the god of human and agricultural fertility. The Cult of
Dionysus practiced ritual celebrations which included intoxication, human and animal sacrifices, and
hysterical rampages by women call maenads.
The cult’s most controversial practice involved uninhibited dancing and emotional displays that
created an altered mental state. This altered state was known as ecstasis, from which the word
ecstasy is derived. Dionysiac, hysteria and catharsis also derive from Greek words for emotional
release. Ecstasy was an important concept to the Greeks, who would come to see theatre as a way of
releasing powerful emotions.
Though it met with resistance, the cult spread south through the tribes of Greece over the ensuing six
centuries. During this time the rites of Dionysus became mainstream and more civilized. By 600 BC
they were practiced every spring throughout much of Greece.
The Dithyramb
A key part of the rites of Dionysus was the dithyramb. The dithyramb was an ode to Dionysus. It
was usually performed by a chorus of fifty men dressed as satyrs – mythological half-human, halfgoat servants of Dionysus. They played drums, lyres and flutes, and chanted as they danced around
an effigy of Dionysus. Although it began as a purely religious ceremony, like a hymn in the middle
of a mass, the dithyramb over time would evolve into stories, drama and the play form.
THE MAIN ACT: The Golden Age of Greek Theater
By 600 BC Greece was divided into city-states, separate nations centered around major cities and
regions. The most prominent city-state was Athens, where at least 150,00 people lived. It was here
that the Rites of Dionysus evolved into what we know today as theatre.
Thespis
In 600 BC, Arion of Mehtymna wrote down formal lyrics for the dithyramb. Some time during the
next 75 years, Thespis of Attica added an actor who interacted with the chorus. This actor was called
the protagonist, from which the modern words, protagonist is derived, meaning the main character of
a drama. The word thespian, meaning actor, also derives from Thespis. Thespis is credited as well
with inventing the touring acting troupe, since he toured Greece with a group of actors in a cart that
doubled as a stage.
Athenian Drama Competitions
In 534 BC, the ruler of Athens, Pisistratus, changed the Dionysian Festivals and instituted drama
competitions. Thespis won the first competition in 534 BC. The annual drama competitions in
Athens took most of the day, and were spread out over several days. Plays were performed in the
daytime. Actors probably wore little or no makeup. Instead they carried masks with exaggerated
facial expressions. They also wore cothorni (singular: cothornos), or buskins, which were leather boots
laced up to the knees. There was little or no scenery. Initially, most of the action took place in the
orchestra. Later as the importance shifted from the chorus to the characters, the action moved to the
stage.
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1. The main point of this passage is:
A. To provide an historic overview of drama through the ages.
B. To examine the origins of drama.
C. To compare Greek, Elizabethan and 20th century drama.
D. To prove that drama provides emotional release.
2. Which of the following statements is NOT true?
A. The cult of Dionysus originated in northern Greece.
B. The cult spread quickly throughout southern Greece.
C. The words ecstasy, dionysiac, hysteria and catharsis derive from Greek words for emotional
release.
D. As part of the rites of Dionysus, a male chorus performed an ode to the god.
3. As the rites of Dionysus spread south, they became “mainstream and more civilized.”
Mainstream means:
A. widely accepted
B. unrefined
C. unfashionable
D. watered down
4. In which city-state did the Rites of Dionysus evolve into theater?
A. Thrace
B. Attica
C. Mehtymna
D. Athens
The Origins of Drama, Part II: TRAGEDY
Between 600 and 500 B.C. the dithyramb had evolved into new forms, most notably the tragedy and
the satyr play.
Tragedy, derived from the Greek word tragos (goat) and ode (song), told a story that was intended to
teach religious lessons. Much like Biblical parables, tragedies were designed to show the right and
wrong paths in life.
Tragedies were not simply plays with bad ending, nor pathos (another Greek word, meaning pitiable
people or events). They depicted the life voyages of people who steered themselves on collision
courses with society, life’s rules or simply fate. The tragic protagonist is one who refuses to acquiesce
to fate or life’s rules, either out of character weakness or strength. Most often, the protagonist’s main
fault is hubris a Greek (and modern English) word meaning arrogance. It could be the arrogance of
not accepting the hand that life deals (fate, as in Oedipus Rex), the arrogance of assuming the right to
kill (Agamemnon), or the arrogance of assuming the right to seek vengeance (Orestes). Whatever the
root, the protagonist’s ultimate collision with fate, reality or society is inevitable and irrevocable.
The Culture that Created Tragedy
Tragedy did not develop in a vacuum. It was an outgrowth of what was happening at the time in
Athens. On one hand, Greek religion had dictated for centuries how people should think and
behave. On the other hand, there was a flourishing of free thought and intellectual inquiry. Athens
in the 4th and 5th centuries BC was bustling with radical ideas like democracy, philosophy,
mathematics, science and art. In these respects – a blossoming of free thought after years of religious
dicta - ancient Athens resembled Renaissance England, which not coincidentally spawned the next
great era in theater.
In essence, the ancient Athenians had began to question how nature worked, how society should
work, and what man’s role was in the scheme of things. Tragedy was the poets’ answer to some of
these questions; How should one behave? How can one accept the injustices of life? What is the
price of hubris?
The Tragedy Form
The traditional tragedy in Aeschylus’ time (circa 475 BC) consisted of the following parts: prologue,
which described the situation and set the scene; parados, an ode sung by the chorus as it made its
entrance; five dramatic scenes, each followed by a komos, and exchange of laments by the chorus
and the protagonist; and the exodus, the climax and conclusion.
Tragedies were often presented in trilogies. Interspersed between the three plays in the trilogy were
satyr plays, in which satyrs (men dressed as half-goats) made fun of the characters in the surrounding
tragedies. The word tragedy came to be derived from tragos (goat) and ode (song/poem). Satyr plays
also spawned the word satire.
The philosopher Aristotle theorized that tragedy’s main purpose was to arouse in the audience fear
and emotion, and by doing so purge the audience of those feelings. This process was called catharsis.
Aeschylus, the First Playwright
Until 484 BC the Athenian drama competitions consisted of a trilogy of dithyrambs and a satyr play.
These were still more choral than dramatic. But around 484 NC there appeared on the Athenian
theater scene a playwright named Aechylus. Aechylus turned the dithyramb into drama. He added
a second actor (the antagonist) to interact with the first, introduced props and scenery and reduced
the chorus from fifty to twelve. Aeshylus’ Persians, written in 472 BC, is the earliest play in existence.
Sophocles
In 468 BC, Aeschylus was defeated in the tragedy competition by Sophocles. Sophocles’ contribution
to drama was the addition of a third actor and an emphasis on drama between humans rather than
between humans and gods. Sophocles' ’lays are about the folly of arrogance and the wisdom of
accepting fate.
Sophocles’ works are suffused with irony. In The Oedipus Trilogy, Oedipus seeks the truth about his
father’s murder. The truth that awaits him, however, is that he is the murderer.
In all, Sophocles won twenty competitions, making him the Carl Lewis of Greek dramatic
competition.
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5. “The tragic protagonist is one who refuses to acquiesce to fate or life’s rules, either out of
character weakness or strength.” Acquiesce means:
E. To oppose
F. To agree
G. To ignore
H. To confront
6. “Whatever the root, the protagonist’s ultimate collision with fate, reality or society is inevitable
and irrevocable.” Irrevocable means:
E. flexible.
F. unpredictable
G. irregular
H. unchangeable
7. What purpose did tragedy NOT serve for the ancient Athenians?
E. It provided catharsis
F. It taught them about their role in society.
G. It taught them about nature
H. It exposed them to new languages
8. “Tragedies were often presented in trilogies.” In this context, a trilogy is
E. a play within a play
F. three plays
G. a play with three acts
H. a play with three actors