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Greek Theatre
Drama emerged out of religion
• Dionysus: god ecstasy & fertility
– Ec/stasy Ekstasz : Greek for
out/stand, so things which take
people “out of themselves” ie –
sex, drugs, rock ‘n roll (wine,
women, and song),
entertainment.
• By the sixth century B.C., the cult
of Dionysus had spread from the
east across all of Greece.
ATTIC OLD COMEDY
Athenian comedy of the 5th century
Vitally connected to Athenian democracy
Highly political – intending to instruct, so
political ideas, entertain .
Thrived when Athens was in the extreme crisis
of the Peloponnesian war 431-404bc
Celebrated traditional values:
peace, fertility, religion, and countryside,poetry
& creativity.
Against “modern” values:
The new, the war, logic and sophist education.
Characteristics of old comdey
(related to its link to the ecstatic cult of Dionysus)
Chorus , masks, animal costumes
Loosing one’s individual personality, and
opening to the god [like student or Xmas
parade]
Structure centred on parodos, agon, parabasis
parados – the procession of chorus into the theatre
agon – the debate between 2 actors – judged by the chorus
parabasis – unmasked chorus talks to the audience about the
meaning of the play
Serious educative purpose
Characteristics of old comdey
(related to its link to the ecstatic cult of Dionysus)
Emphasis on bawdiness
Komos – (the phallic procession) religious, not obscene.
Festive
return to life [winter –Lanaea, and spring –
City Dionysia]
Satirical attack on current trends and unpopular
leaders
Competitive
Drama built on religion
The hypokrites was also known as the protagonistes (a
word which means “first competitor”).
Playwrights, producers Choregos, and actors
hypokrites were awarded a crown of ivy (a plant
sacred to Dionysus) and had their names inscribed in
marble slabs called didaskaliai.
• Theatron-”seeing place”; where the
audience sat
• Orchestra- “The dancing place”;
where the chorus performed
• Skene (tent)- low rectangular
building with uncovered passages on
either side
– Gives us the word “scenery”
because it was eventually painted
and decorated
• Parados – passage way into the
theatre for the choros in the ‘parados’
• Proscenium- level area in front of
skene; most of the action took place
there; not a stage but possibly raised
one step above the orchestra
• Altar to Dionysus- in center of
orchestra; used for sacrifices; also a
stage prop (tree, boat, etc.) Thymele:
the focal spot acoustically of the
orchestra (also called the “sweet
spot”)
A Greek Theatre
This theatre
is located
next to the
Parthenon
in Athens.
The theatre
is still in use
today!
On the stage:
The first Dramas were Choral and dance presentations
In the mid 6th century an actor was added to respond to the chorus.
Thespis is credited with this.
Aeschylus added a second actor in the early 5th century and reduced
the chorus to 15
Euripides added a 3rd actor
Often the actors took several parts – masks made this easy
Aristophanes used 3 actors – though in one part of the Frogs e has a
4th actor on stage
Features of Classical Theaters
The skene - originally a
wooden-framed tent behind
the staging area
Used for costume and mask
changing, or for housing
actors while off-stage.
Eventually, stone skene buildings
were constructed and used as part
of the permanent “scenery.”
Acted on in some plays – eg Wasps
The Theater of Dionysus in Athens, Greece
Restored by the emperor Nero in 68 A.D.
(Computer recreation)
• theatron (embankment)
• parodos (wall)
• skene (building at rear of
stage)
• prohedria (stone seats)
• proskenion (building
before skene)
Greek Drama and Theatre - Theatres
Greek Drama and Theatre - Theatres
The hillside on which the Theatre of Dionysus was built
Orchestra and skene
Actor’s perspective
Actors and chorus in Greek Theater
• Roles in the play
• The main actors (playing multiple
characters each)
• Chorus
– 12 or 15 choreutes (dancers)
– Later, trained to sing and dance
from their youth
• Who could be an actor?
– Young citizen males with some
money or authority in society, and the
approval of the Honorable Archon
Costumes
• Originally, actors smeared faces with paint
to hide their identity.
• Later they wore elaborate costumes with
wigs, makeup and masks.
• Stylized masks amplified emotion and acted
as small megaphones to project the actor’s
voice.
• kothornoi (high elevated boots or
buskins) to add to size
• onkos (vertically elongated mask
with a high head piece)
• Needed in order to allow all 20 000 of the
audience to see and hear what was
happening
Costumes in Comedy
• Costumes chosen by the playwight,
paid for by the Choregos
• grotesque padding, masks, and
phallus.
• Phallus a symbol of Dionysus – the
god of theatre.
• A chiton – short sleeveless shirt was
worn.
• A cloak draped around some actors himation
• No fancy high buskins for comedies.
Masks in Greek Drama
• Masks portrayed character types or character
emotions to the entire audience, which could be
up to 20,000 people crowded onto a hillside.
• These masks fit over the head, with a wig
attached, and had large mouth openings so that
speech would not be muffled.
• prevented the audience from identifying the face
of any actor with one specific character
• allowed men to impersonate women without
confusion
• helped the audience identify the sex, age, and
social rank of the characters
• were often changed by the actors when they
would exit after an episode to assume a new role
Theatrical Machines (mechanai)
The ekkyklema (“a
wheeled-out thing”)
was a cart on
wheels which
carried a dead body
onto the stage.
It was sacrilegious
to show a character
actually dying on
the stage.
Theatrical Machines (mechanai)
• The mechane (machine)
was a crane-like machine
that could lift a character up
as if flying, or could carry
an actor, usually in the
guise of a god, to the top of
the skene.
Who were these playwrights?
Tragedians
Aeschylus
525-486 B.C.
Sophocles
495-406 B.C.
Euripides
484-407 B.C.
4
Aeschylus
Aeschylean tragedy is grand, massive,
and dignified
The language is heavy and often
difficult to understand, full of compound
forms and complex metaphors.
He is still considered by many (as
Aristophanes writes about in The Frogs)
to be the greatest Greek playwright.
Aeschylus' first victory: 484 B.C.
Number of victories by Aeschylus: 13
Sophocles
Sophocles’ heroes” (such as Oedipus or Creon)
are
stubborn and self-willed,
they pursue their own purposes and fashion
their own identities.
Athenians had traditionally identified
themselves through family. Now that
democratic society had begun to focus on the
individual, citizens were compelled to define
themselves through what their own actions.
His first play Triptolemos wins: 468 B.C.
Number of victories by Sophocles: 18-24?
Euripides
Euripides casts tragedy's religious foundations into
question.
Aristophanes portrays him as arid in his dialogue,
and determined to make tragedy less elevated by
introducing common people.
Others call him a misogynist, an underminer of
received morality, and unorthodox in his religious
views.
No other playwright challenged the status quo in
such a controversial manner.
He brought up issues for the people and for the
philosophers, and not just for the literary figures.
Euripides’ first victory: 442 B.C.
Number of victories by Euripides: 5
Aristophanes
Aristophanes is the only comedian from
Greece’s periods of Old and Middle
Comedy of whom we possess any
complete plays.
His wit and satire supposedly sparked
many debates and angered many people,
especially the politicians he parodied
He won at least six first prizes and four
second prizes in the contests.
Number of victories by Aristophanes: 6
Timeline of Ancient Greek Drama
c. 625
Arion at Corinth produces first dithyrambic choruses.
540-527 Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens, founds the festival of the Greater Dionysia
536-533 Thespis puts on tragedy at festival of the Greater Dionysia in Athens
525
Aeschylus born
499-496 Aeschylus' first dramatic competitions
c. 496
Sophocles born
485
Euripides born
484
Aeschylus' first dramatic victory
468
Aeschylus defeated by Sophocles in dramatic competition
458
Aeschylus' Oresteia (Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, Eumenides)
456
Aeschylus dies
Timeline of Ancient Greek Drama
c. 450
Aristophanes born
441
Sophocles' Antigone
431-404 Peloponnesian War (Athens and allies vs. Sparta and allies)
c. 429
Sophocles' Oedipus the King
406
Euripides dies; Sophocles dies
404
Athens loses Peloponnesian War to Sparta
399
Trial and death of Socrates
c. 380's Plato's Republic includes critique of Greek tragedy and comedy
380
Aristophanes dies
342
Menander born
291
Menander dies
Extant Works of Greek Tragedy
• Aeschylus
–
–
–
–
Persians (472)
Seven Against Thebes (468)
Suppliant Women (463?)
Oresteia Trilogy: (458)
• Agamemnon
• Libation Bearers
• Eumenides
– Prometheus Bound (450-425?)
• Sophocles
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Ajax (450-430)
Antigone (c. 442?)
Trachiniai (450-430?)
Oedipus Tyrannos (429-425?)
Electra (420-410)
Philoctetes (409)
Oedipus at Colonus (401)
• Euripides
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–
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Alcestis (438)
Medea (431)
Children of Heracles (ca. 430)
Hippolytus (428)
Andromache (ca. 425)
Hecuba (ca. 424),
Suppliant Women (ca. 423)
Electra (ca. 420)
Heracles (ca. 416)
Trojan Women (415)
Iphigenia among the Taurians (ca. 414)
Ion (ca. 413)
Helen (412)
Phoenician Women (ca. 410)
Orestes (408)
Bacchae (after 406)
Iphigenia in Aulis (after 406)
Cyclops (possibly ca. 410)
Extant Works of Greek Comedy
• Aristophanes
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Acharnians (425 B.C.)
Knights (424 B.C.)
Clouds (423 B.C.)
Wasps (422 B.C.)
Peace (421 B.C.)
Birds (414 B.C.)
Lysistrata (411 B.C.)
Women at the
Thesmophoria (411 B.C.)
– Frogs (405 B.C.)
– Ecclesiazusae (c. 391 B.C.)
– Plutus (388 B.C.)
• Menander
– Dyscolus (316 B.C.)
– parts of:
• Perikeiromene
• Epitrepontes
• Samia