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Theatre History
GREEK
Greek Drama
5th Century
500 B.C. To 400 B.C.
Locations
Theatres/Festivals held/built near sanctuaries or
places of worship
Origins of Tragedy
In 534 B.C., Athens instituted a contest for the best
tragedy presented at the City of Dionysia. The City of
Dionysia was the major religious festival.
An actor by the name of Thespis was said to be the first
winner of the contest. (also a playwright)
During one of these festivals, Thespis created and used a
prologue and lines-drama was born. FIRST ACTOR
Aristotle wrote a book called Poetics.
Poetics explained that hymn songs and dance were in honor of
the Greek god of Wine and Fertility, Dionysus.
Difference of goodness in the characters
Difference in how the narrative is presented: telling a story or
acting it out.
5 Rules of Tragedy
Must provide catharsis; purification and purging of
emotions
The hero must possess a tragic flaw;
Must be a change of fortune involving reversal or
discovery;
Must be written in highest form of poetry;
Plots must conform to 3 unities: action, time, &
place.
Literature
We base what we know
about Greek Tragedy on
three major playwrights:
Aeschylus
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7 plays survived
Sophocles
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7 plays survived
Euripides
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More complex plots/suspense
Reduced chorus
19 plays survived
Parts of a Play
Prologue: Tells us what
happened prior to the
play being written.
Parados: Entrance of the
chorus (singing/dancing)
Stasima: Main action of
the play.
Exodus: Concluding
scene where characters
and chorus leave.
The Satyr Play
A burlesque treatment of mythology often
ridiculing gods and/or heroes and their
adventures
Only one satyr play survived the ages:
Euripides’ Cyclops
Greek Comedy
Possible birth of Greek comedy:
(the song of the komos)
The mime appeared around 518 B.C.
Making fun of other nationalities
Protagonist often reached his goal
Greek Comedy
One of the greatest playwrights of Old Comedy was
Aristophanes
Wrote 40 plays, but only 11 survived.
He’s noteworthy for because of his commentary of
contemporary society , politics, and literature.
Greek Comedy
Characteristics of Old Comedy
Fantastic exaggerations
Farcical situations
Plot emphasis on the pleasure of eating, drinking,
promiscuity, wealth, and leisure.
The Greek Actor
Originally, the playwright and
the actor were one in the
same.
Hypocrite – to answer from
under a mask
By 468 B.C., three actors
were allowed for each
playwright.
The chorus were the
narrators, they dominated
the play, they spoke half the
lines, and they were usually
above 50 people.
The Greek Actor Traits
Voice was of great
importance.
Vocal Tone
Setting the mood
Showing and becoming a
character
The Greek Actor Traits
Movement and gestures
Tragedy--simplified and
broadened
Men played all the roles
Song, recitation, Choral
passage, dance, and
masks were used liberally
and with great stylization
Costumes and Masks
The costumes of the time
period were actually the
actors own clothes.
Masks were worn to depict
the different characters.
Facial expressions were not
important because they wore
the masks.
Vocal quality was more
important because the masks
restricted the voice.
Music and Dance
Music
Major part of Greek
Drama
Accompaniment for the
genre was a single flute
Music and Dance
Dance
Used for any expressive
rhythmical movement
Was mimetical (I.e. expressive
of a particular kind of character
or situation)
Basic dance of comedy was
intentionally ridiculous
Basic dance of the satyr had
vigorous leaping, horse
playing, and lewd pantomime.
Theatre Architecture
The oldest part of the
Theatre of Dionysus was the
orchestra,dancing space.
Theatron – Seeing place
The audience stood around
or up on a hill in outdoor
theatre
The Greeks felt that the
Orchestra and the audience
were the most important part
of the theatre.
Theatre Architecture
The skene, or scene
building, was later built
onto the orchestra
The actors changed
behind the skene and
entered/exited here
Became a backdrop
Flats/moveable sets
Theatre Architecture
The auditorium is where
the audience sits.
The parodoi is the
entrance onto the
orchestra from the skene
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Used primarily by the
chorus
Also used by the audience
Theatre Architecture
The auditorium…
The theatron is the
seeing place

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First on the hillside
Eventually, stone seats
were developed.
Greek Machinery
Ekkyklema was a devise
used to reveal the bodies
of the characters killed
offstage.
A platform
Similar to an alter
Machane was a crane that
showed characters in flight.
(Deus Ex Machina)