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Ancient Greek Theatre
Background
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The Golden Age of Greece
No empire/ city-states
Between Persian and Peloponnesian Wars
Prosperity and advancements in politics,
science, philosophy, art, and architecture.
• 510 BC 1st democracy- free male citizens
could vote (Athens)
Greece had slaves and women were
subservient, but our American
democracy, founded on the same
ideals, had similar limitations.
SO, let’s put this into perspective!
In the U.S., what year was
slavery abolished?
1865
In the U.S., when were women
given the right to vote?
1920
Point Being…
• Having an established democracy for such a
large portion of the population in 510BC is
still admirable and impressive!
Science and Philosophy
Advancements
• Pythagorus-Pythagorean theorem
• A2 + B2 = C2
• Hippocratic Oath-Hippocrates came up with
oath doctors still take today.
• Socrates and Plato-great philosophers
• Architecture-Obviously-stood the test of
time , also withstood manmade and natural
disasters!
Theories of the Origin of Theatre
1. Aristotle
Aristotle’s Theory
• Theatre came from man’s natural desire to
imitate and communicate.
• Examples: children, Ook and Og
2. Rituals
• Many ways of viewing this theory-functionalists,
structuralists, Darwinistic
• A ritual is a form of knowledge reflecting a
society’s understanding of the universe.
• Didactic-passing on traditions and knowledge
• expected to influence or control events
• used to glorify
• used to entertain or give pleasure
• All these functions can be served by theatre
Rituals
• Theatre and ritual employ same basic
elements: music, dance, speech, masks,
costumes, performers, audience and stage
• Whether it is ritual or theatre depends on
our perception of the events function and
our relationship to it
Other Minor Theories
• Storytelling; humans have a narrative instinct
(related to Aristotle)
• Egyptian myths-Pyramid Texts- no evidence they
were acted out or intended to be performed
• Egyptian religious ritual-no primary text survives
to support
• Despite Egyptian theories-Theatre was never
developed there beyond ritual!
3. Greek Religious Festivals
honoring Dionysis-God of
harvest wine, fertility
Greek Festival Theory-AristotleDrama (tragedy)
• 1. Dithyramb- lengthy hymn sung and
danced by 50 men with one leader/narrator
and the chorus sings the refrain.
• 2. 600 BC- dithyramb became literary
form-written down.
• 3. Arion-added spoken dramatic words to
dithyramb from Lesbos, poet and harpist
• 4. Thespis-1st actor, stepped out of chorus
and delivered monologue (thespian=actor)
The City Dionysia-where drama
was first presented
The City Festival Dionysia
• Festival honoring
Dionysis-where
theatre originated
• Lasted 7-14 days
• Wars ceased; political
concerns ignored
• During festival
everything CLOSEDeven prisons
• Athens in Spring end
of March
• Lenaia-Jan., Rural
• In Athens to
commemorate Dionysus
coming to Athens
• Tragedies added to festival
in 534 BC
• Satyr play added in 501
BC
• Comedies added to
festival in 486 BC
• 1-2 days of parades
and sacrifices
• 2 days of dithyrambs1for choruses of boys
and 1 for choruses of
men
• 3 days of tragedies- 1
day for each author
who would present a
tetralogy (3 tragedies
and a satyr)
• 1 day of comedies- 5
plays each by a
different author
• A few days after
festival, give awards
for best play and best
actor, and best
playwright like our
Oscars and Emmys
and Tonys
• Proagon-trailer for
upcoming plays, actors
would perform small
section for public as
advertisement
• Archon-person responsible
for picking out plays 11
months before festival
• Choregus-producer, pick
one playwright to sponsor
for one year, paid all major
expenses related to chorus:
rehearsals, costumes,
musicians, considered a
form of paying taxes
• City provided theater
space, awards and
playwright and actor’s
salaries
• Representative Body –
judge and jury to anyone
who behaved improperly
during festival, elected
• Plays based on myths or
legends that the people
were already familiar with.
• Satyr play -a short comic
piece making fun of tragic
subjects by half-man, halfgoat dressed actors
Ticket
This ticket allowed
people in to view
the plays during
the festival. The
city paid for the
tickets of the poor
so EVERYONE
could attend these
religious festivals!
Tickets
• Pericles, ruler of Athens, established the
Theoric Fund in 450 BC to assist those who
were too poor to afford admission.
• entitled person to section, not seat
• tribes had own section and part of that was
reserved for women
• Violence in the audience of the theatre was
punishable by death!
Women attended festival
because violence NEVER
occurred onstage!
(This is debated, but there are
primary source references to
women attending as well.)
Background
• Golden Age
• Advancements in many areas
• 510 B.C. first democracy!
Theories of the Origin of Theatre
• Aristotle said theatre
came from man’s
natural desire to
imitate and
communicate.
• Rituals
• Came from Greek
religious festival
honoring Dionysisdithyramb, literary
form, Arion, Thespis.
City Festival Dionysia
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7-14 days
All closed
Christmas equivalent
Certain events on certain days
Awards
Different people had different jobs
Women attended festival so NO violence in plays