Download Theater of Dionysus

Greek Theatre History
The Birth of Drama
Prologue: Origins of Drama
• Between 600-200 B.C. ancient
Athenians created an
outstanding theatre culture
that has lasted 2 millennia and
still influences plays today.
Prologue:
Origins of Drama
• Only two other periods in
theatre history have equaled
that in ancient Athens:
– Elizabethan EnglandShakespeare
– 20th Century – 1,000’s of plays
and films
Cult of Dionysus
• Dates back to at least
1200 B.C.
• In Thrace (Northern
Greece) a cult
worshipped Dionysus– God of human &
agricultural fertility
Cult of Dionysus
• Ritual celebrations
– Intoxications, orgies, human/animal sacrifice, hysterical
rampages by women called maenads
• Most controversial practice– Uninhibited dancing and emotional displays that created altered
mental states – ecstasis (ecstasy)
– Important release of powerful emotions
• Cult spread through the tribes of Greece for 6 centuries
– Rites of Dionysus became more mainstream and civilized
Cult of Dionysus
• Dithyramb
– Key part of the Rite of Dionysus
– It was a ode to Dionysus performed by a
chorus of 50 men dressed as satyrs
• Servants of Dionysus
– Played drums, lyres, & flutes
– Chanted & danced around an effigy
(likeness) of Dionysus
– Wore phallus-like headgear
– Began as a religious ceremony and over
time, evolved into stories, drama, and
play form.
The Main Act: Golden Age of Greek
Theater
• By 600 B.C. Greece was
divided into city-states,
separate nations, centered
around major cities or regions.
– Most prominent was Athens
– In Athens, Rites of Dionysus
evolved into what we know
today at theatre
Golden Age of Greek Theatre
• Thespis (of Attica):
– Added an actor who interacted
with the chorus
• Called him the protagonist – main
character of a drama
• Thespian: “actor” – derived from
Thespis
Athenian Drama Competitions
• 534 B.C.- Ruler of Athens
changed the Dionysian
Festivals & added drama
competitions
– Thespis won the 1st competition
– Competition become popular
annual event
Athenian Drama Competitions
• Archon- Gov. authority would
choose competitors
• Choregos- Wealthy patrons
who financed the productions
– In return for funding, the
choregos would not pay any
taxes for that year
Amphitheaters
• Major theaters were in Delphi, Attica, & Athens
-(Theater of Dionysus)
• Built at foot of the Acropolis
– Hill where Parthenon (temple to Athena) is built
– Could seat 17,000 people
Built at foot of the
Acropolis
– Hill where
Parthenon (temple
to Athena) is built
– Could seat 17,000
people
Greek Theater Diagram
Parts of Theater of Dionysus
• Theatron: “seeing place”
– Origins of the word “theater”
– Slope without any seating
• Orchestra: “dancing place”
– Platform between the raised stage & the audience on which
the chorus was situated
• Thymele: altar
dedicated to
Dionysus placed
in the middle
Parts of Theater of Dionysus Continued…
• Skene “hut” or “tent”
– On the side of the orchestra opposite the
audience
– Place where actors could retire &
change clothes
– Eventually was decorated for backdrops
for scenes
– Place where actors
could retire & change
clothes
– Eventually was
decorated for
backdrops for scenes
Parts of Theater of Dionysus Continued…
• Deus ex Machina
– “God from machine”
– Common occurrence in Greek drama
was the appearance of a god
• Actor would descend from air about the
stage to the surface of the stage on a
crane-like device called a machina
(machine)
• Overuse of gods to resolve difficult
dramatic situations led to a contrived
(too perfect) ending
How Plays Were Performed
• Annual competitions took most of the day & were
spread out over several days
• Performed in the daytime
Used little or no scenery
• Most action took place
on the orchestra
– Later action shifts to the
stage
Greek Actors
• Wore little or no makeup
– Wore masks that exaggerated facial
expressions
• Made of lightweight materials such as
bark, cork, leather, and linen
• Had megaphone structure in the mouth
opening of the mask to project the
actor’s voice
• Masks allowed actors to play many parts
and change costumes/characters easily
• Masks were also called personas
Greek Actors Continued…
• Actor wore a long, flowing
robe, dyed in symbolic colorschiton
• Wore high platform boots
called cothurni
Greek Chorus
• Composed of 15 men
• Had to sing and dance
• Had five major purposes
Purposes of the Greek Chorus
• 1. Acted as a group character who
expressed opinions, gave advice, &
threatened to interfere with the
action of the play
• 2. Expressed the author’s point of
view & established a standard
against which all action s would be
judged
• 3. Acted as the ideal spectator –
reacting the way the author wanted
the audience to react
Purposes of the Greek Chorus Continued…
• 4. Established mood &
heightened dramatic effect
• 5. Added color, movement, &
spectacle
Tragedy
• Between 600-500 B.C., the
dithyramb evolved into 2
forms
– Tragedy and comedy
• Tragedy- “tragos” (goat song)
– Story intended to teach a religious
lesson
– Weren’t just plays with bad endings
Tragedy Continued…
• Depicted life voyages of people
who steered themselves on
collision courses with society,
life’s rules, or fate
– Tragic protagonist who refuse to
give in to fate (because of
weakness or strength)
• Hubris: Protagonist’s main fault –
arrogance
– Ex. Oedipus Rex
Tragic Form
• Aeschylus: the first playwright
– 1. Turned the dithyramb into drama
– 2. Added a second actor (antagonist) to
interact with the 1st
– 3. Introduced props and scenery
– 4. His masterpiece-Oresteia – legend of
Agamemnon, Greek war hero, who
murdered his wife, Clytemnestra, and
the pursuit of justice by his kids
Tragic Form
1. Prologue (prologos)-described the
situation & set the scene
2. Parados-Ode sung by chorus as it made
its entrance on the paradoi
3. Five dramatic scenes/episodes-Action
performed by the characters
4. Each followed by a stasimon/odeexchange of laments between chorus &
protagonist
-strophe and antistrophe (odes)
4. Exodus- chorus sings final lines while it
exits the stage (climax & conclusion)
Tragic Form Continued…
• Often presented in trilogies
with satyr plays between each
– Men dressed as satyrs making
fun of their surroundings (birth
of satire)
Aristotle Said…
• Tragedy’s main purpose was to
arouse the audience in fear &
emotion, & by doing so, purge
the audience of those feelings
– Catharsis
Periclean Age
• Aeschylus’ death marked a
period in which the arts and
democracy flourished
– 456 B.C.
Sophocles
• Sophocles defeated Aeschylus at
City Dionysia (theatre festival)
468 B.C.
• Added a third actor to the tragedy
• Emphasized the drama between
humans rather than gods and
humans
• Used irony in his plays
• Oedipus trilogy
Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles
• Oedipus the King
(Oedipus Rex)
• Oedipus at Colonnus
• Antigone
* All are about the folly of
arrogance & the wisdom of
accepting fate
Euripides
• 480-406 B.C.
• His point of view resembled the attitude
of people today
• Not about gods or royalty but REAL
people
– Gave feelings of peasants & princes equal
weight
• Portrays society’s forgotten: women,
slaves, aged
• Added the prologue – set the stage for the
play & deus ex machina
• Trojan Women- anti-war masterpiece
Comedy
• Cast molds for many Roman,
Elizabethan, and modern
comedies
Old Comedy (Satires)
-Aristophanes
• Made the opening
chorus into the
playwright’s address to
the audience
• Humorous opinion
piece that made fun of
the gods
• “Sacred cows” were
attacked (warriors,
youth, intellectuals)
New Comedy
Menander -
• Aimed more toward common
people & less concerned with
religious origins
• Mistaken identity, ironic situations,
ordinary characters, & wit
• Less use of orchestra & more use of
upper staging
• Menander’s characters were
ordinary people- much like later
comedy
– Classic archetypes – grouchy old man
(The Grouch)
The Final Curtain
• 406 B.C. (Sophocles’ death)
golden era of Greek drama
was waning
– Overrun by Spartans,
constant warring with other
city-states, and dominated
by Alexander the Great
*Would not return to the same
creative heights for 2 centuriesElizabethan England