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Ancient Greek Theater
This is where it all began: the
Theatre of Dionysus in
Athens.
Introduction to Greek
Theater
2500 years ago, 2000 years before
Shakespeare, Western theater was born in
Athens, Greece. Between 600 and 200 BC,
the ancient Athenians created a theater
culture whose form, technique and
terminology have lasted 2 millennia. They
created plays that are still considered
among the greatest works of world drama.
Scope of Influence
 The
comedy and tragedy that developed in
Athens and flourished in the fifth and
fourth centuries BCE have influenced
nearly all subsequent Western drama,
starting with that of the Romans.
 When
the Romans conquered Greece they
brought Greek literature back to Italy and
set about making it their own.
Roman Theater

The Romans, with their love of spectacle, soon took
over the existing theatres in Greece and began
renovating and rebuilding them for their own
spectacles, which included everything from
pantomime (closer to ballet than to the children's
'panto') to mock naval battles. Most of the remains
of the theatre of Dionysus which we can see in
Athens today date to Roman times and not the fifth
century BCE.
The tragedies and comedies of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE that remain to us today
were almost all written for performance in the Theatre of Dionysus at Athens. The
Theatre of Dionysus was first dug out of the slope beneath the south side of the
Acropolis in the late 6th century BCE, possibly while Athens was still under the rule of
the Peisistratid dynasty. It was rebuilt and expanded many times, and so it is difficult to
tell exactly what its original shape was.
 Theater
is a ritualistic art form which
celebrates the Olympian gods who often
appeared as characters.
 Dionysus,
god of wine and procreation,
was honored at the dramatic festivals.
 Legendary
kings and heroes were often
portrayed as well.
Theater and the
Common Man
 Business
and activities were suspended during
the week-long festivals held three times per
year.
 It
was considered a CIVIC DUTY for people to
participate in the productions in some way.
 The
plays were to give a lesson to the people DIADACTIC PURPOSE
The Physical Structure of the
Greek Theater
Golden Age of Greek
Theater
The most prominent city-state in Greece by 600
BC was Athens where at least 150,000 people
lived.
 In Athens the rites of Dionysus evolved into
what we know today as theater .

Greek Amphitheatres

The Theater of
Dionysus, built at the
foot of the Acropolis in
Athens, could seat
17,000 people.

During their heyday, the
competitions drew as
many as 30,000
spectators.

The words theater
and amphitheater
derive from the
Greek word
theatron, which
referred to the
wooden spectator
stands erected on
the hillsides.

The theatron held benches on which the audience sat. The
semi-circular theatron was specifically built in to a hillside to
provide good views of the action.

The orchestra was the circular dancing place for the chorus

The parados were two broad aisles which allowed the chorus to
enter the theater. Parados is also the term for the entrance song
of the chorus.

The skene was a rectangular building with three doors which
provided a generic backdrop for entrances and exits of the
characters.

The proskenion was a small platform in front of the skene to
give actors more visibility to the audience.
The Physical Structure of the
Greek Theater
 Approx.
15,000 people fit in the Theater of
Dionysus in Athens.
 No
sets, props, etc.
 Actors’
lines marked the passage of time and
the setting.
 Design
of theatron was important for
acoustics – no microphones.
Amphitheatres
Artistic replica of the Theater at
Dionysus
Delphi Theater
reconstruction and
current day ruins
Current day Theater at
Dionysus
Thespis

In about 600 BC Arion
of Corinth wrote down
formal lyrics for the
dithyramb.

Some time in the next
75 years, Thespis of
Attica added an actor
who interacted with the
chorus.

This one actor was
called the protagonist.
 Thespis
walked
around Athens
pulling a handcart,
setting up a kind of
one man plays,
where he showed the
bad behavior of man.
The word for actor,
“thespian”, comes
from his name.
Thespis

The "inventor of
tragedy" was born in
Attica, and was the first
prize winner at the Great
Dionysia in 534 BC.

Thespis was an
important innovator for
the theater, since he
introduced such things as
the independent actor (as
opposed to the chorus) as
well as masks, make up
and costumes.
The Players

Because Greek tragedy and comedy originated with the
chorus, the most important part of the performance space
was the orchestra, which means 'a place for dancing' (orchesis).

A tragic chorus consisted of 12 or 15 dancers (choreuts), who
may have been young men just about to enter military service
after some years of training.

Athenians were taught to sing and dance from a very early
age. The effort of dancing and singing through three tragedies
and a satyr play was likened to that of competing in the
Olympic Games.
Performance
Characteristics
 Plays
were initially held with just the
chorus singing/chanting the lines.
 In
534 BCE Thespis was credited with
creating the first actor (thespians). The
character spoke lines as a god.
 This
begins the concept of DIALOGUE
– the character interacts with chorus.
The Role of the Actor

Aeschylus – earliest Greek tragedy writer brought idea
of second actor.

Sophocles – brought third actor – no more than three
actors on stage ever in a Greek tragedy.

Euripedes – also used three actors after Sophocles.

Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripedes each wrote a
version of the Oedipus tragedy, but Sophocles’ version
is the most famous.
 Actors
needed to be LARGER THAN LIFE
and thus easy to see.
 Size
was symbolic of their social status.
 Chiton
– a long, flowing robe, padded at the
shoulders for width, selected in symbolic
colors
 Cothurni
– platform shoes for added height
The Greek Actor
 Participation
is a civic duty; many volunteered
for the chorus.
 Experienced
speakers became actors (often
govt. officials or imp. businessmen)
 Actors
duty.
were revered and exempt from military
 Women
were excluded from acting and had to
sit in the higher seats in the theatron.
Masks

The large size of the theatre (in its final form it seated 20,000 people) and
the distance of even the nearest spectators from the performers (more than
10 meters) dictated a non-naturalistic approach to acting.

All gestures had to be large and definite so as to 'read' from the back rows.
Facial expression would have been invisible to all but the closest members
of the audience.

The masks worn by the actors looked more 'natural' than bare faces in the
Theatre of Dionysus. The masks of tragedy were of an ordinary, face-fitting
size, with wigs attached, and open mouths to allow clear speech.

Contrary to some later theories, there were no 'megaphones' in the masks,
and their decoration and expression was quite subtle, as vase paintings from
the 5th and 4th centuries attest.
Masks

Theatrical masks were made of wood (like the masks
of Japanese Noh drama), leather (like the masks of
the Commedia dell' arte, or cloth and flour paste
(like many of the masks used at the Carnevale of
Venice, and many masks made for modern
productions today). Various theories are advanced in
favor of each material, but no originals remain, only
stone carvings which may have been used as maskmolds and the paintings on pottery.
Declamatory Acting Style
 Actors
could not move easily, so lines were
delivered in a “speech” style.
 Broad
sweeping gestures.
 General
movements to express emotions:
Bowed head – grief; beating chest –
mourning; stretching arms – prayer.
 Minor
props – scepter – king, spear –
warrior, elderly – cane.
Greek Theater Masks
Paradox of the Mask
 The
most distinctive feature of the mask was its
ability to limit and broaden at the same time.
 It
identified a specific character, but it also had
generalized features which gave an “Everyman”
quality. This allowed the audience to “get” the
personal message intended for each member of
the audience.
The Skene?

The theater of Dionysus
in the earliest days of
tragedy must have
consisted of only the
most basic elements.

All that was required
was a circular dancing
area for the chorus at
the base of a gently
sloping hill, on which
spectators could sit and
watch the performance.

On the other side of the
orchestra facing the
spectators there probably
stood a tent in which the
actors could change their
costumes (one actor
would play more than one
part).

This is suggested by the
word skene which means
'tent', and was used to
refer to a wooden wall
having doors.
The Skene and Seating

The wall was painted
to represent a
palace, temple or
whatever setting was
required. The wall,
which eventually
became a full-fledged
stage building,
probably acquired
this name because it
replaced the original
tent.

The construction of the
wooden skene (cf. our
theatrical terms "scene"
and "scenery") and of a
formal seating area
consisting of wooden
benches on the slope,
which had been hollowed
out, probably took place
some time toward the
middle of the fifth century.
Mechanical Stage Devices

One device is the
ekkyklema “a wheeledout thing”, a platform on
wheels rolled out through
one of the doors of the
skene, on which a
tableau was displayed
representing the result of
an action indoors (e.g., a
murder) and therefore
was unseen by the
audience.

The other device is
called a mechane
“theatrical machine”, a
crane to which a cable
with a harness for an
actor was attached.
This device allowed an
actor portraying a god
or goddess to arrive on
scene in the most
realistic way possible,
from the sky.
Flying Actors?

The mechane deposited the
actor on top of the skene so
that he as a deity could
address the human
characters from an
appropriately higher level.

This device was not
exclusively limited to use by
divine characters, but was
employed whenever the plot
required any character to
fly.
Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the
King)
 Written
by Sophocles in 430 B.C.E.
 Based
on a great legend of western culture from
Ancient Greece.
 Greatest
Greek tragedy; drama of extreme
tension; one person rules action
 Sophocles’
version deals with the discovery of
Oedipus’ fate.

Tragedy lies in Oed. learning of his guilty deeds rather
than the committing of them.

Shows Oed. at war with himself

Tension lies in the first realization of outcome and his
push for full truth and proof.

Free will cannot blame fate.

“Reason is man’s greatest possession and power.” –
Sophocles.
 Oedipus
shows how man’s strength becomes
his weakness
 Loss
of eyesight is symbolic regarding Oed.’s
abuse of Teresias, Oed.’s own blindness to
his fate, and our blindness to our own
calamities.