Ancient Greek Theatre

1
Ancient Greek Theatre

• About 600 BCE - about 250 BCE

2
Origins

• Religious ceremonies
• Funerals
• Seasonal celebrations
• Ceremonies honoring the gods
• Of particular significance were ceremonies
  honoring Dionysus, god of wine, fertility and
  revelry.
• Some historians believe Greek drama originated in
  the dithyrambic choruses
• Dithyramb long hymn, sung and danced by a group
  of 50 men

3
Thespis

• Thespis is credited being the first actor
• In 534 BCE, he stepped out of the chorus and
  delivered a prologue and dialogue while
  impersonating a character
• That is where we get the modern term thespian
  as a tribute to Thespis.

4
Festivals

• Business came to a standstill during dramatic
  festivals even wars were stopped to celebrate
  and honor the gods
• Has no modern day equivalent
• City Dionysia
• Held at the end of March when spring had arrived
  to honor Dionysus
• In 534 BCE, tragedy was incorporated In 486
  BCE, comedy and satyr plays added

5
City Dionysia

• Lasted for several days
• Before the opening of the festival, parades and
  sacrifices were held to honor Dionysus
• 2 days for dithyrambs, 3 days for plays
• Each playwright had to enter 3 tragedies and 1
  satyr play this was called a tetralogy
• Awards were given similar to Olympics

6
Greek Tragedy

• Violence and death offstage
• Frequent use of messengers to relate information
• Usually continuous time of action
• Usually single place
• Stories based on myth or history, but varied
  interpretations of events

7
Aeschylus

• His are the oldest surviving plays
• Has the only remaining Greek trilogy
• The Orestia
• Agamemnon
• The Libation Bearers
• The Eumenides
• Introduced the 2nd actor

8
Sophocles (496-406 B.C.)

• Introduced the 3rd actor
• Fixed the chorus at 15
• Wrote
• Oedipus Rex
• Antigone

9
Euripides (480-406 B.C.)

• Very popular in later Greek times
• little appreciated during his life
• Sometimes known as "the father of melodrama"
• Wrote
• Hecuba
• Medea

10
Aristotle

• Wrote The Poetics (c. 335 BCE) in response to
  Platos The Republic
• Aristotlean Elements
• Plot
• Character
• Thought
• Diction
• Music
• Spectacle

11
The Satyr Play

• Afterpiece to the tragedies
• Thematically tied to trilogy
• Poked fun at honored Greek religion and heroes
• Had elements of vulgarity

12
Comedy

• Satirical treatment of domestic situations
• Called "Old Comedy"
• Commentary on contemporary society, politics,
  literature, and Peloponnesian War.

13
Aristophanes

• Wrote plays in the style of Old Comedy
• Reflected the social and political climate in
  Athens
• Plays full of bawdy wit
• Distinguished for their inventive comic scenes,
  witty dialogue and pointed satire rather than for
  plot or character
• Wrote
• The Clouds (423 BCE)
• The Birds (414 BCE)
• Lysistrata (411 BCE)
• The Frogs (405 BCE)

14
Greek Theater
15
(No Transcript)
16
(No Transcript)
17
(No Transcript)
18
(No Transcript)
19
(No Transcript)
20
Scenery and Special Effects

• Periaktos
• rotating triangles used for changing scene
  locations
• Ekkyklema
• platform on wheels used to bring out characters
  from inside the building
• Mechane
• Crane hidden behind the upper level of the skene,
  used to lower the actor playing the god to
  suggest a descent from the heavens
• Later changed to deus ex machina which means god
  from a machine

21
Acting Styles

• Acting styles
• Only three actors
• Actors usually played more than one role
• Men played all the parts
• Chorus
• Entered with stately march, sometimes singing or
  in small groups.
• Choral passages sung and danced in unison,
  sometimes divided into two groups.

22
Costumes and Masks

• Masks
• All tragic players wore masks.
• None survive - made of cork, linen, wood.
• Covered whole face - hair, beard, etc.
• Comedy - more varied often birds, animals, etc.
  Probably not realistic.
• Characters had exaggerated masks, some in chorus
  wore identical masks.

23
(No Transcript)
24
(No Transcript)