Download Ancient Greek Theatre

The Golden Age of
Ancient Greek
Theatre
the origins of drama
The Origins Of Drama
 The dithyrambs celebrating
Dionysus soon evolved into
dramas.
 The story goes: Thespis, a
popular writer of Dithyrambs, is
said to have invented drama when
he asked one “performer” to
stand outside the chorus to
engage in some “call and
response.”
Word Origin
 The modern
word “thespian”
comes from the
name Thespis.
 Accredited with
being the first
actor to actually
“play” the roles of
characters using
masks
The Chorus
 Because of the
dithyrambic origins of
Greek drama, the plays
featured Choruses.
 The chorus danced and
either sung or chanted
their lines.
Functions of the chorus
 an agent: gives advice, asks, takes part
 establishes ethical framework, sets up
standard by which action will be judged
 ideal spectator - reacts as playwright
hopes audience would
 sets mood and heightens dramatic
effects
 adds movement, spectacle, song, and
dance
 rhythmical function - pauses / paces the
action so that the audience can reflect.
Word Origin
 The modern word
“drama” comes from the
Greek word dran
meaning "to do”
 The Greeks understood
the role of action in
plays.
The
Theatre
of
Dionysus
 The first plays were performed in the
Theatre of Dionysus, built in the shadow
of the Acropolis in Athens at the
beginning of the 5th century,
 These theatres proved to be so popular
they soon spread all over Greece.
Amphitheatres
 Plays were performed out-of-doors.
 The side of the mountain was
scooped out into a bowl shape,
something like our amphitheatres
today, and tiers of stone seats in
concentric semi-circles were built
on the hill.
 These theatres often seated as many
as 20,000 spectators, with a special
first row being reserved for
dignitaries.
Theatron
 The theatron (literally, "viewingplace") is where the spectators sat.
The theatron was usually part of
hillside overlooking the orchestra,
and often wrapped around a large
portion of the orchestra.
Word Origin
 The modern word
“theater” comes from
the Greek word
theatron meaning
"seeing place"
Orchestra
 The orchestra (literally, "dancing
space") was
normally
circular. It was
a level space
where the chorus
would dance, sing,
and interact with
the actors who were on the stage (called
the Proskenion) in front of the skene. In
the center of the orchestra there was
often an altar.
Skene
 The skene (literally,
"tent") was the
building directly in
back of the stage,
and was usually
decorated as a
palace, temple, or
other building,
depending on the
needs of the play. It
had at least one set
of doors, and
actors could make
entrances and exits
through them.
Parados
 The parodoi (literally, "passageways")
are the paths by which the chorus and
some actors (such as those
representing messengers or people
returning from abroad) made their
entrances and exits.
The Actors
 All of the actors were men.
Women were not allowed to
participate.
 The actors played multiple
roles, so a wooden, cork, or
linen mask was used to show
the change in character or
mood.
 If playing a female role, the
male actor in want of a female
appearance wore the
prosternida before the chest
and the progastrida before the
belly
Working in the Space
 Because of the distance
between actors and the
audience, the actors, who were
all men, used broad gestures
and histrionic speech.
 The actor made himself taller
by wearing thick-soled shoes
called cothurnis and a high
head piece called an onkus.
 The masks assisting in
projecting the actor’s voice
through a type of inside
megaphone.
Costumes
 Consisted of standard Greek attire
 Chiton: a sleeveless tunic belted below
the breast
 the himation: draped around the right
shoulder
 the chlamys, or short cloak, worn over
the left shoulder
 elaborately embroidered patterns
Staging
 Staging was accomplished simply
with the use of pinakes, or scenery
painted on boards and placed
against the skene.
 Also periaktois, triangular prisms,
that could be revolved for scenery
changes.
 Properties were also used.
 Drums were sounded for thunder.
Staging, Cont’d.
 the eccyclema, a small wagon
platform, was wheeled in to show a
corpse to the audience. All killing
had to occur off stage and be
reported to the audience by the
chorus or a messenger.
 The deus-ex-machina was a crane-like
device occasionally used for
lowering in a god to assist the
protagonist in neatly solving his
problems.
The City Dionysia Festival
 In the sixth century BC, the Athenian
ruler, Pisistratus, established the
'City Dionysia', a festival of
entertainment held in honor of the
god Dionysus.
 This festival featured competitions
in music, singing, dance and poetry.
 Playwrights presented a series of
three tragedies, or a trilogy.
 Interspersed between the three
plays in the trilogy were satyr plays
Communal Involvement
 The entire city would be in
attendance.
 All other businesses not directly
involved with the 6-day festival
would shut down, so that everyone
could attend.
 The government even offered
financial assistance to those who
could not afford to attend.
Types of Greek Drama
 Comedy
 Tragedy
 Satyr
 Comedy and tragedy were the most
popular types of plays in ancient
Greece. Hence, the modern popularity of
the comedy and tragedy masks to
symbolize theatre.
Word Origin
 The word
“comedy”
comes from
the Greek
word “komos”
which means
“band of
revelers.”
Comedies
 not admitted to Dionysus festival
until very late into the Greece’s
golden age----487 b.c.
 The first comedies were mainly
satirical and mocked men in power
for their vanity and foolishness
 The first master of comedy was the
playwright Aristophanes
 Style: exaggerated, farcical, focus
on sensual pleasures
Structure of a Comedy
 Prologue — leading character
conceives a "happy idea"
 Parados: entrance of the
chorus
 Agon: dramatized debate
between proponent and
opponent of the "happy idea"
Structure, Cont’d
 Parabasis:
chorus
addresses
audience on
poet’s views on
topic
 Episodes: "Happy
idea" is put to
practical
application
Tragedy
 The word
tragedy came
to be derived
from the Greek
tragos (goat)
and ode (poem).
Tragedy
literally means
goat song or
goat poem.
Traits of Tragedy
 Late point of attack
 Violence and death occurred
offstage
 Frequently used messengers to
relate information
 Stories based on myth or history,
but varied interpretations of events
 Focus was on psychological and
ethical attributes of characters,
rather than physical and
sociological.
structure of a tragedy
 Prologue, which describes the situation
and sets the scene
 Parados, an ode sung by the chorus as it
made its entrance
 Five dramatic scenes, or episodes--the
last of which is called the Epilogue
 Each episode is followed by a stasimon, a
choral ode, an exchange of laments by
the chorus and the protagonist. (This
ode is sometimes called a komos.)
 Exodus, the climax and conclusion
Satyr Plays
 These were short
plays performed
between the acts of
tragedies. They made
fun of the plight of
the tragedy's
characters.
 The satyrs were
mythical half-human,
half-goat servants
of Dionysus.
Word Origin
 Does the term Satyr
remind you of any
modern day term?
 The Satyr and the
Satyr plays spawned
the modern word
“satire”.
Important Playwrights





Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
Aristophanes
Menander
Aeschylus (525-456 bc)
 Considered the “father of greek
tragedy”
 Famous works: Prometheus Bound;
Seven Against Thebes; The Oresteia
(a trilogy consisting of:
agamemnon, the libation bearers,
and the eumenides)
 His plays feature a chorus and one
actor.
Death by tortoise
Aeschylus has one of the
strangest claims to fame. He
was bald, and the story goes
that a passing eagle, looking
for a rock on which to drop and
crack open a tortoise in order
to eat it, dropped it on him by
mistake, killing him outright.
The fate of the tortoise was not
recorded.
Sophocles
(496-406 bc)
 His plays are more characterdriven rather than choric
 He is credited with adding a
third character
 His works include: Oedipus Rex;
Antigone; Electra
The Final Curtain
 By the time of Sophocles' death in
406 BC the golden era of Greek
drama was ending.
 Athens was overrun in 404 BC by the
Spartans, and was later torn apart
by constant warring with other city
states, eventually falling under the
dominion of Alexander the Great and
his Macedonian armies.
 Theatre went on but did not return
to the same creative heights until
Elizabethan England two millennia
later.