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Greek Theatre
With ancient Greek theatre, we have a drama so outstanding that it has never been
surpassed. Only the Elizabethan came close to achieving such a height. The Golden Age of
Greece [500-400B.C.] brought us the greatest tragedies of all time, as well as outstanding
creativity in such fields as architecture and government.
Greek theatre had its beginnings in the Dionysian rites that paid homage to Dionysus,
the god of wine and fertility. These public celebrations were held around stone altars at the foot
of hilly vineyards. There was much dancing and singing of hymns or dithyrambs to honor
Dionysus, and as these religious celebrations gained momentum, choral groups were organized
with vocal contest among them. Out of these dithyrambic rituals developed tragedy, which
literally means goat song [tragos]. There is disagreement among scholars as to why it was thus
called. There are several possibilities. Perhaps the chorus wore goat skins, or they draped the
altar with one, or a goat was sacrificed at the end of the festival as an offering to the gods. Of the
four Dionysian festivals, the one held in March, the City Dionysia, developed into a festival of
tragedies, where a coveted prize was awarded the best series of plays. The festival, which took
place in Athens, was both a national and religious ceremony. Since business was suspended for
a week, everyone participated. Crowds came from the surrounding villages, and if someone
could not afford the negligible ticket price, the state would pay their entrance fee. Both sexes
attended, although theatre production and acting were restricted to males.
The annual festival lasted five or six days. The first day included a procession that carried
the image of Dionysus to the city limits where a day of religious rites, wine drinking,
merrymaking, and singing was spent. At night the image was returned to the theatre [theatron
or seeing place] by candlelight.
The next day or two were given to dithyrambic contests performed by various choral
groups. The final three days were reserved for the play contests. In festive mood the audience
assembled at dawn to see the long performances. Each day a different dramatist was featured.
He would offer four plays: a trilogy, or three tragedies centered around one theme; and a satire,
or farce, that made fun of the same tragic figures and provided the comic relief necessary after
the heavy trilogy.
At the end of the festival the winning author and his financial backer
[choragus] were allowed to wear the coveted ivy garland.
It should be pointed out that comedies [from komos, meaning a band of revelers] were
sometimes given in the afternoon during the City Dionysia. However, most comedies were
performed at the Lenaea festival [in early February] where prizes were awarded for the best
comic writer.
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Plays were performed out-of-doors. At first, the theatre consisted of crude benches
placed on a sloping hill and looking down on a circle of hard-packed ground, where the chorus
performed around an altar. Later, the side of the mountain was scooped out into a bowl shape,
something like our amphitheaters today, and tiers of stone seats in concentric semicircles were
built on the hill. These theatres often seated as many as 20,000 spectators, with a special first
row being reserved for dignitaries. The acting area, called the orchestra, was the circular space
marked out on the ground at the foot of the hill. It varied from 65 feet to 85 feet in diameter.
The actors changed costumes in the skene, a small building first situated at the side of
the orchestra and later permanently placed behind it. The skene, from which we derive the
word scene, had three doors in its façade through which actors would enter. To the right and left
between the skene and the orchestra was a wide passageway, called the parados, which was
used for the chorus to enter and exit. Eventually, a platform called a Proskenion [from which
we get the term proscenium] was placed in front of the skene for the actors. On each side, two
wings called Paraskenia were introduced.
The structure of this theatre, as is true of any playhouse, influenced acting and
presentation. Since the theatre was large and the distance from audience and playing area was
great, the drama was rhetorical, containing more speech than action. The actors, all men, of
necessity used broad gestures and declamatory speaking. To project to the audience, the actor
made himself taller by wearing thick soled shoes, called cothornus, and a high headpiece,
called an onkus. In addition, he wore wooden, cork, or linen masks that fitted over the entire
head. These masks not only denoted the character, station in life, and emotion, but they
projected the actor’s voice through a type of inside megaphone.
Costumes of both the actor and the chorus consisted of standard Greek attire: the
sleeveless chiton, or tunic, belted below the breast; the himation, or long mantle, draped
around the right shoulder, and the chlamys, or short cloak. These costumes were very colorful
and often had elaborately embroidered patterns on them.
Staging was accomplished simply with the use of pinakes, or scenery painted on boards
and placed against the skene, and periaktois, or triangular prisms that could be revolved for
scenery changes. A few properties were also used. Drums were sounded for thunder, and the
eccyclema, or 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 unique mechanical crane used for lowering and raising gods. Its
name is still employed today for labeling any device, such as the death of a rich uncle, that
unexpectedly occurs to assist the main character in solving problems conveniently.
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The Greek tragedies were based on ancient myths which were well known and enjoyed by
the audience. Most of the plays encompassed certain elements that Aristotle [384-322 B.C.] later
identified in his Poetics.
ARISTOTELIAN ELEMENTS FOR TRAGEDY
1. The tragedy must provide catharsis, or a spiritual purge, that is attained when the
audience feels pity and terror from what they see on stage. The plays inspire the
audience to live better lives.
2. The hero, who must be in a high social position [kings, gods], must possess a tragic
flaw: something in his character or a failure in his judgment that brings disaster.
3. There must be a change of fortune involving reversal [the character’s efforts
boomerang] or discovery [the character moves from ignorance to knowledge].
4. The plays must be written in the highest form of poetry.
5. The plots must conform to the three unities of
a. Action:
a series of closely related events.
b. Time:
action takes place within twenty-four hours.
c. Place:
action takes place in only one locale.
[It should be pointed out that many of the Greek plays did not observe the unity of place
and time, but Aristotle still included this element in his treatise.]
Besides containing the previous qualities, most of the tragedies followed a set form.
 The Prologue introduced the play.
 The Parados was a song that brought on the chorus.
 The Epeisodian [of which there were generally 5] was a passage of dialogue that
alternated with. . .
 The Stasimon or song by the chorus.

As the chorus chanted or sang, often to the accompaniment of
music, they moved with slow dance-like grace so that the songs
were broken into two passages:

The strophe as the chorus moved left; and

The antistrophe as they moved back to the right.
 The Exodus took the chorus offstage and ended the play.
The first tragedian to win the City Dionysia playwriting prize was Thespis. In his plays
that year [534 B.C.], he introduced a leader for the chorus. The leader would speak, and the
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chorus would respond in chants. Thus, the leader became the first Greek actor. Thespis also
instigated another first in his theatre: the use of masks. It is from his name that actors today are
called thespians.
Three great writers of tragedy developed during the Golden Age. Their few existing plays
are still performed today throughout the world. Aeschylus [525-456 B.C.], who has been termed
the Father of Tragedy, is considered by many scholars to be the greatest tragic poet of all time.
He was a rugged individual and a warrior at the Battle of the Marathon. Aeschylus frequently
participated in the City Dionysia, winning first prize 13 times. He is attributed with inventing the
trilogy and adding a second actor to the plays. He reduced the chorus from 50 to 12, but that
impressive group still handled most of the play, relating the events and setting the mood.
Aeschylus loved spectacle and his plays abounded with it. He had Prometheus, the god, fall off a
cliff, and he dressed the Furies in such frightful masks that it is said women and children
fainted upon seeing them.
As was current for his day, Aeschylus accepted the gods and the fate they decreed for
man. While all of his plays reflect with dignity and simplicity this “predestination” philosophy,
they also show the worth of man and man’s sense of responsibility. Of Aeschylus’ 90 plays, only
7 are existing. You should at least be familiar with his Oresteia trilogy or the story of the house of
Atreus, since the other two great Greek dramatists also wrote about this legend.
The Oresteia trilogy encompasses two religious beliefs of the ancient Greeks. The Sin of
Hubris decreed that one must suffer for too much pride or arrogance; the Vengeance Theme
made it a religious obligation to avenge a wrong done to one’s family. In Agamemnon, the
first play of the Oresteia trilogy, Agamemnon returns home from ten years of war, commits the
Sin of Hubris, and is killed by his wife Clytemnestra, who has never forgiven him for sacrificing
their eldest daughter to the gods. In Libation Bearers, Electra, the remaining daughter of
Agamemnon, talks her brother Orestes into killing their mother in revenge. The third play, The
Furies, finds Orestes being chased throughout the world because of the murder. Finally, he is
pardoned by the gods.
The second great writer of tragedies was Sophocles [497-406 B.C.]. He was a handsome,
well educated man of many talents: musician, singer, and athlete. He was also interested in civic
affairs, becoming the treasurer of Athens. Sophocles, like Aeschylus, had a brilliant career in
theatre. He wrote over 100 scripts and won 18 Dionysia Festivals. In his plays he introduced a
third actor and changed the chorus to 15. Sophocles was a polished literary craftsman who had
keen theatrical sense. His plays abound with beautiful language, a well-balanced plot, and
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excellent character portrayal. Today his work is considered the essence of Greek drama. The best
known of his 7 existing plays are Electra, in which he handles the Oresteia theme; Oedipus
Rex, in which Oedipus unknowingly kills his father and marries his own mother in an effort to
resist fate; and Antigone, a “sequel” to Oedipus.
Euripides [485-406 B.C.], although apparently good at boxing and painting, confined
himself to a literary life. He would often retire to a cave overlooking the sea and there he would
meditate and write. Sometimes considered the “First Modern,” Euripides was an unorthodox
thinker who questioned the traditional religious ideas and gods. His plays emphasize
psychological motivations and social consciousness, particularly accentuating the plight of
women and the problem of the outsider. He was the first to “humanize” drama with little
household details and events that appeal to the emotions. His Medea is a potent tragedy that
shows the mental anguish of Medea who is driven mad by jealousy. In Alcestis, Euripides
wrote a tragicomedy that combined both the serious and the humorous.
Besides these three great tragedians, two writers of comedy gained note. Aristophanes
[circa 450-380 B.C.] is considered the finest comic writer of ancient Greece. His biting, vulgar
satire on Athenian life produced vigorous plays that abound with humorous ideas and bold
attacks. His comic fantasy The Birds appeals most to today’s taste since its humor is less
dated. His other plays include: The Frogs, a satire on Euripides; and The Clouds, a satire on
Socrates.
Menander [circa 342-291 B.C.] was also a celebrated writer of comedy. Unlike
Aristophanes who wrote on social aspects, Menander burlesqued domestic or private life. His
plays teem with cunning servants, freeloading relatives, protective fathers, and young lovers.
Until the 20th century, only fragments of Menander’s plays existed; our knowledge of his work
was gleaned mainly from ancient Roman writers who copied him extensively. But in 1957, The
Curmudgeon, a complete farce by Menander, was discovered. This lively spoof shows us his
comic genius.
Finally, the great Grecian drama began to deteriorate as Caesar’s armies marched over
the land. From Greek drama, the victorious Romans established their theatre, but their
imitation greatly differed from the Attic original.
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