Greek Theatre

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Greek Theatre
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Greek History

• 2500 - 500 BC

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2500 BC
Whose got the power?
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Wheres the Greece?
?
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Minoan civilization

• Most prevalent in the Aegean Area
• Lived on the Isle of Crete
• 1400 BC - MAJOR EARTHQUAKE destroys Crete
  cities
• Focus moves North to Mainland of Greece
• Culture greatly influences cities of Mycenae and
  Troy

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1100 BC
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DARK AGES
1100 - 800 BC
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The Dawn of Greek Civilization
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800 BC - 500 BC
Greek Civilization Begins to Take Shape
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polis
City State
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ImportantGreek Cities

• Attica (Athens)
• Corinth
• Sparta
• Thebes

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City state facts

• Originally ruled by Kings
• After 800 BC Nobles began to acquire considerable
  power and control
• These tyrants did much to improve social
  conditions and promote the arts
• Peisistratus dominated Athens from 560-510 BC
• Established numerous festivals including the
  Festival of Dionysia
• By the late 6th Century BC Greeks grew weary of
  tyrants and prevent them from gaining power

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508 BC
Greece creates the worlds first
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508 BC
democracy
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Greek Theatre

• The origins of Comedy Tragedy

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700 BC
GREEKS LEARN TO WRITE
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WRITTEN records increase but those relating to
the Theatre were rare until 534 BC
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534 BC
Athens institutes a contest for the best tragedy
at the City of Dionysis (a Major Religious
Festival)
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Thespisis credited with the first win
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Therefore,Most scholars consider him the
inventor of drama
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Tragedy
Taken from the Greek
Goat Song
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Aristotle said
Tragedy evolved out of the improvisations by the
leader of the dithyrambs
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Whats a dithyramb?
It was the hymn sung and danced in honor of
Dionysis, the greek god of wine and fertility
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Greek Theatre

• Comedy

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Origins of comedy

• From the Greek word KOMOS
• Based on religious ceremonies connected with
  fertility rites
• Actors wore grotesque costumes and performed
  using wild gestures
• Around 570 BC these actions become organized
• Susaron believed to have written the first comedy

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Styles of Comedy
Old Comedy
Middle Comedy
New Comedy
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Structure of Comedy
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Old Comedy (570 - 404)
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The Happy Idea

• Usually wild and impractical
• The chorus enters and debates the Happy Idea
  which includes a direct address to the audience
  of the views of the playwright
• A series of farcical scenes attempting to
  implement the happy idea which usually concludes
  with some merrymaking

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Middle Comedy
(404 - 321)

• Development connected to the downfall of Athens
  during the Peloponnesian War
• Chorus has a lesser role
• Political commentary removed
• Stories and characters become somewhat uniform
• No scipts of this time period remain

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New Comedy

• Appears during the last quarter of the 4th
  Century
• Comic form most copied by the Romans
• Structure closely resembles the structure of
  modern plays (5 Act Structure)
• Characters drawn from contemporary Athens
• Last form of theatre to emerge from Athens shows
  the cynicism prevalent after the citys decline

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Satyr play

• Entered into the Dionysian Festival around 500 BC
• Accompanied the trilogy
• Written as pure entertainment usually mocking the
  theme of the previous plays
• The chorus was portrayed as Satyrs
• Very little is known about this form of Greek
  Theatre

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Greek Theatre

• The Playwrights

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Tragedy in the 5th Century

• What we know about Greek Tragedy is based solely
  on three playwrights
• They are representative of other playwrights
• However from over a 1,000 plays written during
  that time period, only 31 still exist

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The Tragic Playwrights
Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
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Aeschylus (523 - 456)

• Oldest of surviving Greek Playwrights
• Thought to have written 80 plays, only 7 survive
  including the Oresteia trilogy (Agamemnon,
  Libation Bearers, and Eumenides)
• Introduced the Second actor
• The most theatrical of the tragedians

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Sophocles (496 - 406)

• Wrote over 120 plays, 7 survived including
  Antigone, Electra, and Oedipus Rex
• Won 24 Dionysian festivals, never lower than 2nd
• Introduced the 3rd actor, after Aeschylus used 3
• No elaborate visual effects, placed increased
  emphasis on the individual character
• Considered the most skillful of all the Greek
  tragedians

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Euripides (480 - 406)

• Wrote about 90 plays, 18 survived including
  Medea, The Trojan Women, and Orestes
• Popular in later cultures but not during his
  lifetime because his plays were thought
  unsuitable for the stage too undignified for
  tragedy
• Badly written, compared to Sophocles Aeschylus
• Use of melodrama and sentimentality were signs of
  what was to come in the 4th Century

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The Comic Playwrights
Aristophanes Menander
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Aristophanes (448 - 380)

• What we know of Old Comedy comes from his
  writings
• Wrote 40 plays 11 survive including Frogs,
  Lysistrata, Birds
• Characters come from all classes of Athenians
  commenting on contemporary society, politics,
  literature, war
• With Athens defeat by Sparta, his style of
  writing becomes less popular

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Menander (342 - 292)

• Playwright of the New Comedy Period
• Wrote about 100 plays 11 exist
• Grew up in Macedonian controlled Athens
• Chorus no longer important - group of performers
  who appear between scenes (5 Act Structure)
• Stock characters taken from everyday life in
  contemporary dress - not mythic
• Not considered great playwright but works
  influenced Roman playwrights Plautus Terence
• Modern Theatre can trace its roots to Menander

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THE END