Greek Theatre

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Greek Theatre
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Dionysis

• Greek god of wine, fertility, and revelry
• Events of his life linked him to the cycle of the
  seasons and the recurring pattern of birth,
  maturity, death, and rebirth
• Worship of Dionysis promoted fertility,
  guaranteed the return of spring, and provided an
  ample harvest

source http//www.artsednet.getty.edu/ArtsEdNet/
Images/Beauty/hermdioh-l.jpeg
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City Dionysus

• Home of a large festival started by Peisistratus,
  ruler of Athens from 560-510 B.C.
• Festival where drama was first presented
• Known as the home of drama

source http//www.artsednet.getty.edu/ArtsEdNet/
Images/Beauty/hermdioh-l.jpeg
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Parts of a Greek Ampitheatre
source http//didaskalia.berkeley.edu/stagecraft
/TDA/tda_i7.html
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Parts of a Greek Amphitheatre
source http//didaskalia.berkeley.edu/stagecraft
/greek.html

• Theatron
• seeing place where the audiences sat in seats
  carved into the mountainside

source http//didaskalia.berkeley.edu/stagecraft
/TDA/tdamain.html
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Parts of a Greek Amphitheatre
source http//didaskalia.berkeley.edu/stagecraft
/greek.html

• Orchestra
• dancing place where the chorus, and later
  actors, performed.

source http//didaskalia.berkeley.edu/stagecraft
/TDA/tdamain.html
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Parts of a Greek Amphitheatre
Skene
source http//didaskalia.berkeley.edu/stagecraft
/TDA/tdamain.html
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Parts of a Greek Amphitheatre

• Skene
• little hut or house at the back of the
  proskenion with one or more doors and an upper
  level used for the appearance of gods or to
  represent high places.
• Proskenion
• main acting area in front of the skene.

source http//didaskalia.berkeley.edu/stagecraft
/greek.html
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Parts of a Greek Amphitheatre
source http//didaskalia.berkeley.edu/stagecraft
/TDA/tdamain.html
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Parts of a Greek Amphitheatre

• Periaktoi
• 3-sided scenery which was rotated to change
  locale. Triangular prisms with a different scene
  painted on each of their three sides.
• Pinakes
• Painted panels similar to our modern flats.

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Parts of a Greek Amphitheatre

• Eccyclema (Ekkyklema)
• A wagon for wheeling out
• bodies in tragedies. Rolled
• out of the skene because
• there was no violence allowed
• on stage.
• Deus ex machina
• god on machine a crane like device which
  lowered gods down to wrap up the story line.

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Origin of Tragedy
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Origin of Tragedy

• 534 B.C.
• First theatre contest for the best tragedy at
  City Dionysia.
• Thespis is credited as being the first winner.
• also known as the first actor to step out of
  the chorus.

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Origin of Tragedy

• Tragedy
• literally means goat song
• it was believed that the chorus danced for a goat
  as a prize or around a goat which was then
  sacrificed.
• emerged out of improvisations by the leaders of
  the dithyrambs.
• dipthyramb consisted of an improvised
• story, sung by the choral leader, and a
• refrain, sung by the chorus

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Origin of Tragedy

• Actors Acting
• Dithyramb /Chorus
• Consisted of a group of 50 men who chanted
  stories and danced in unison in the festival
  event.
• Words spoken by the chorus came to
• represent the opinions of the people.
• Importance of chorus reduced as actors moved out
  front.

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Origin of Tragedy

• Actors Acting
• Three actor rule dictated that
• only 3 actors could perform at one time.
• To accommodate this rule, actors often protrayed
  more than one character. (Leaving and returning
  as a different character.)
• This rule was softened to allow supernatural
  characters to appear in non-speaking roles.

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Origin of Tragedy

• Actors Acting
• Greeks placed emphasis on voice.
• Actors were judged by the beauty of tone
• and ability to adapt to their speaking to the
• mood and character.

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Origin of Tragedy

• Actors Acting
• Facial expression was of no importance.
• actors were always masked.
• gestures and movement were simplified and
  broadened so they could be seen from far away.

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Origin of Tragedy

• Actors Acting
• All players, except flute players, wore masks.
• Masks covered the entire head, thus included the
  appropriate hair style beard, ornaments, and
  other features.

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Origin of Tragedy

• Actors Acting
• (masks cont.)
• Masks were made of stiffened linen, cork, carved
  wood, or leather. To shape the mask, the artist
  molded material around a marble face (like
  papier-mâché).
• These masks covered the entire head of the actor.
  
• The white of the eye was painted while the part
  of the pupil remained open for the actor to see
  the stage.

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Origin of Tragedy

• Aristotle
• (384 322 B.C.)
• Developed the first written discussion of
  tragedy.

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Origin of Tragedy

• Aristotle (384 322 B.C.)
• Definition of a Tragic Hero
• Comes from nobility
• Has a Tragic Flaw (simple mistake or a weakness
  in character)
• Encounters a reversal of fortune
• Suffers a downfall
• Recognizes flaw (in a catharsis)

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Origin of Tragedy

• Aristotle (384 322 B.C.)
• Requirements for Plot/Action
• Exposition
• Rising Action
• Climax
• Falling Action
• Denoument/Resolution

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Origin of Tragedy
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Origin of Tragedy

• Aristotles Unities
• Aristotle described tragedy as "an imitation of
  an action that is serious, complete, and of a
  certain magnitude."
• The Unities are
• Action
• Place
• Time

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Origin of Tragedy

• Aristotles Unities
• Action
• Action must have an identifiable beginning,
  middle, and end a harmonious correlation of
  whole and parts a series of events which follow
  one another inevitably and are related in
  sequence.

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Origin of Tragedy

• Aristotles Unities
• Place
• action must be confined to a single
  geographical area.
• Time
• action must take place within the time frame of
  a single day.

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Origin of Tragedy

• The Six Elements of Drama
• from Aritotles Poetics
• 1. Plot or mythos
• (refer to plot notes for more info)
• central conflict in the story
• in comedy, there must be poetic justice (bad guy
  gets it in the end.

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Origin of Tragedy

• The Six Elements of Drama
• from Aritotles Poetics
• Character or dianoia
• (see tragic hero notes for more info)
• protagonist those for the idea
• antagonist those against the idea
• neural those required to be there to move the
  story along

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Origin of Tragedy

• The Six Elements of Drama
• from Aritotles Poetics
• Thought or ethos
• Meanings
• Focus
• Ideas explored

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Origin of Tragedy

• The Six Elements of Drama
• from Aritotles Poetics
• Language/Diction or lexus
• The dialogue
• The poetry

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Origin of Tragedy

• The Six Elements of Drama
• from Aritotles Poetics
• Music/Rhythm or melos
• all sound
• Spectacle or opsis
• scenery and other visual elements

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Playwrights

• Aeschylus
• Earliest Greek tragedy playwright
• Added the 2nd actor
• Wrote Orestia, a trilogy

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Playwrights

• Sophocles
• Added the 3rd actor
• Wrote Oedipus and
• Antigone

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Playwrights

• Aristophanes
• Greek Comedy playwright
• most famous play is
• Lysistrata

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Playwrights

• Euripedes
• emphasized realism
• de-emphasized chorus
• Wrote Medea and
• Trojan Women