Download ANCIENT GREEK DRAMA

The Cult of Dionysus
 Ancient Greek Theater
evolved from religious
rites dating back to at
least 1200 BC
 In 500 BC, in Northern
Greece (Thrace) a cult
arose that worshipped
Dionysus (god of fertility
and procreation)
 An essential part of the
rites of Dionysus was the
dithyramb
 Dithyramb means
“choric hymn”
 This chant or hymn
was accompanied by
mimic gestures and
music
 The dithyramb was
performed by a chorus
of about 50 men
Dithyramb
 The performers wore costumes, danced, and
played drums, lyres and flutes,
 They described the adventures of Dionysus.
 The dithyramb was given a regular form and raised
to the rank of artistic poetry about 600 BC.
 It became one of the competitive subjects at the
various Athens festivals.
 It attracted the most famous poets of the day.
From Dithyramb to Drama
 As time went on, the dithyramb started to cease to
concern itself exclusively with the adventures of
Dionysus and began to choose its subjects from all
periods of Greek mythology.
 In this way, over time the dithyramb would evolve into
stories in “play” form: DRAMA.
ATHENS
 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
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.
Athenian Drama Competitions
 In 534 BC, the ruler of Athens, Pisistratus,
changed the Dionysian Festivals and instituted
drama competitions.
 In the next 50 years, the competitions became
popular annual events.
 During this time, major theatres were
constructed , notably the theater at Delphi, the
Attic theater and the Theater of Dionysus in
Athens.
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.
Amphitheatres
Artistic replica of the Theater at
Dionysus
Current day Theater at
Dionysus
Delphi Theater
reconstruction and
current day ruins
Layout of Greek theatres
How plays were performed
 Plays were performed in  The masks prevented
the daytime.
 Since women were not
allowed to take part,
male actors had to play
female roles.
 The playing of multiple
roles, both male and
female, was made
possible by the use of
masks.
the audience from
identifying the face of
any actor with one
character in the play.
 The masks had
exaggerated facial
expressions, different
lengths and color
hair,and helped the
audience identify the
sex, age, and social
rank of the characters.
FAMOUS GREEK MASK MOZAIC
FOUND IN THE RUINS OF POMPEII
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 wheeled-out
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.
The Greek Chorus
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The Chorus began in numbers as large as
50, then smaller sizes as actors become
more predominate. They provided time for
scene changes, introduced background and
summary information. Their dance and
chanting provided the visionary experience
that separated audience from the actor and
the essence of tragedy.
Ideal spectator: reacts as the audience
should. Asks questions, takes part in the
play
Establishes framework, sets the standard by
which action will be judged
Heightens dramatic effect through
movement, song and dance
Rhythmical Function-pauses/paces the
action so audience can reflect and actors
can rest/prepare
Actors
 The actors in tragedy were hired
and paid by the state and assigned
to the tragic poets probably by lot.
 By the middle of the 5th century 3
actors were required for the
performance of a tragedy. In
descending order of importance of
the roles they assumed they were
called the protagonist “first actor”, (a
term also applied in modern literary
criticism to the central character of a
play), deuteragonist “second actor”
and tritagonist “third actor”.
Actors
 The protagonist took the
role of the most important
character in the play while
the other 2 actors played
the lesser roles. Since
most plays have more
than 2 or 3 characters
(although never more than
3 speaking actors in the
same scene), all 3 actors
played multiple roles.
 The fact that the chorus
remained in the orchestra
throughout the play and
sang and danced choral
songs between the episodes
allowed the actors to exit
after an episode in order to
change mask and costume
and assume a new role in
the next episode without any
illusion-destroying
interruption in the play.
Playwrights
 Aeschylus – earliest Greek tragedy writer brought idea of
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second actor. Writer of The Persians
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.
Aristophanes who wrote comediers , rather
Satires, one of the most famous was Lysistrata
Modern cultural historians, think that plays are an excellent source of
eviudence, sometimes even better than documents, for revealing what
people thought. Read the story of Lysistrata and list statements about
what it reveals about 5th century Greece
Attire
 The Chiton
 Chotharnus- elevating shoes
 Chalmys- short cloak
 Himation- long cloak
Masks
 The large size of the theatre (in its final form it seated 20,000 people)
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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.
USING THE TEMPLATE COLOUR YOUR MASK TO EMPHASISE THE
DRAMATIC FEATURES.