Greek Theater

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Greek Theater
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Roots in Worship of Dionysus
God of wine and revelry
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Origins

• Celebration of Dionysus- God of Wine
• Performed in circular dancing place (orchestra)
• A chorus of men dressed in goat skins
• Trageoia goat song
• A story about Dionysus by leader of the chorus

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PRODUCTION

• Orchestra
• Chorus (from 12-15 people)
• Actors- always men, masked and in costumes
• Early plays of Aeschylus- only two actors by
  about 450 B.C., a third had been added
• The poet composed the music and the dance as
  well as the text, directed the production, and
  trained the chorus some dramatists also played
  the leading roles.

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Masks of Greek Theater
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Masks of Greek Theater
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Masks of Greek Theater
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The chorus was dominant because there was usually
one actor and that actor had to leave the stage
several times during a show to change
characters. The chorus was to be a
representation of society, they often served as
the ideal spectator by providing advice,
opinions, questions to the audience and
actors. The main actor(s) stood apart in the
performance space because they typically played
heroic figure that would realistically be
separated from normal mortal beings. Their
costumes and masks added spectacle and their
movement and dance heightened the dramatic
effect. Great actors were characterized by their
voice quality and the ability to adopt their
manner of speaking to the character.
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Functions of Chorus

• The beauty of poetry and dancing
• Relieves tension
• Interprets events for audience
• Often converses with the actors gives advice
• Gives background of events

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Chorus
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Tragedy A drama of a character, usually one in
high position, where a conflict usuallydevelops
between the protagonist/heroand a superior
force (such as destiny,circumstance, or
society) and the storyends in some sort of
disaster or great fallof the protagonist.

• Tragedy
• n A drama of a character, usually one in a
• high position, where a conflict usually
• develops between the protagonist/hero
• and a superior force (such as destiny,
• circumstance, or society) and the story
• ends in some sort of disaster or great fall
• of the protagonist.

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Hubris and Hamartia

• On Hamartia A tragic flaw or error that in
• ancient Greek tragedies leads to the heros
• reversal of fortune.
• On Hubris Excessive pride or arrogance.
• Often leads to the downfall of the major
• character in Greek tragedy.

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Thespis of Athens

• Ca. 535 B.C.E.
• Father of Drama
• Created the first actor
• Hypokrites

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Moving on

• New myths are used, not just Dionysus
• Aeschylus introduced second actor
• Dialogue
• Sophocles introduced third actor
• Dramatic action

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GREAT GREEK TRAGEDIANS

• AESCHYLUS (ca.525-456 B.C.)
• SOPHOCLES (ca.495-406 B.C.)
• EURIPIDES (c 480-406 B.C.)

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AESCHYLUS (ca.525-456 B.C.)

• The "Father of Tragedy"
• Addition of a second actor
• Made much use of imagery
• His tragedy deals Fates and the justice of the
  gods
• His plays reflect the contemporary belief that
  the gods, jealous and resentful of human
  greatness, typically inflict great persons with a
  character flaw that brings their ruin

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Sophocles
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SOPHOCLES (ca.495-406 B.C.)

• Won the competition at the Great Dionysia more
  often than any other of the great dramatists
• He increased the potential for dramatic conflict
  by adding a third actor
• wrote dramas which were complete in themselves,
  rather than always part of a trilogy
• Sophoclean drama deals primarily with strong
  characters

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EURIPIDES (c 480-406 B.C.)

• Wrote prolifically- some 90 plays, of which 19
  survived
• He won the prize for the best play only four
  times (but then the Academy Awards usually get it
  wrong too).
• He wrote of less heroic, more realistic
  characters

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EURIPIDES Cont.

• One device he uses (and it is often seen as a
  weakness in his plays) is the deus ex machina, a
  god, not involved earlier in the action, who
  descends in a stage machine to straighten out the
  mess humans have got themselves into.

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Structure of Tragedy

• Prologue-First Act
• Parados- Entrance of the Chorus
• Episodes- Acts
• Stasima-Choral Odes
• Exedus- Action after last stasimon

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Typical Greek Theatre

• Theatron- where the audience sits
• Open air
• Hillside
• Seating capacity of the Theatron of Dionysus of
  Athens?
• About 17,000

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Dionysus Theater in Athens
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Dionysus Theater in Athens
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• Orchestra-dancing place of the chorus
• Skene- dressing room for actors
• Proscenium- the façade of the skene where scenery
  was-
• No curtains
• Dues et Machina- technical device- crane atop the
  skene with a dummy hung representing gods.

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Deus ex Machina- God From the Machine
The Machina- a crane that was used to represent
characters who were flying or lifted off of the
earth.
Tunnel from behind the Skene to the center of
the stage. Scenic wagons revealed through doors
on the Skene. Pinakes painted panels that could
be attached to the skene.
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Differences Drama, Then and Now

• Greek drama(GD) is a religious
• GD get its subjects from mythology
• GD outlines the plot in advance, little suspence
• GD main intrest is relgioun and ethical
  instruction
• All Short plays 17,000 longest to 900 shortest

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Rated G

• No violent action
• Scenes of horror happen off stage
• Reported to the audience

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Unity

• Unity of action- no subplots
• Unity of place-no change of scenery
• Unity of time- max of one day
• No intermissions
• Twice a year in the day

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Staging an ancient Greek play

• Plays were funded by the polis
• Plays presented in competition with other plays
• Tragedies almost exclusively dealt with stories
  from the mythic past
• Comedies almost exclusively dealt with
  contemporary figures and problems.
• The great tragedies of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and
  Euripides were performed annually at the spring
  festival of Dionysus, god of wine, and
  inspiration.

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Theater at Epidaurus
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Theater at Epidaurus
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Dionysus Theater in Athens
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Chorus
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Aristotles Poetics
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1. Central Character is of the Elite Class
Usually noble or Royal
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2. Central Character suffers a Downfall
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3. Central Character is Neither Wholly good nor
wholly evil
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4. Downfall is the result of a Fatal Flaw or
error (Hamartia)
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5. Misfortunes involve characters who are related
or who are friends closely connected
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6. Tragic actions take place offstage
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7. Central Character has a moment of recognition
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8. Audience experiences pity and fear
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Pity and Fear leads to a catharsis According to
Aristotle, this is one of the most important
purposes of Drama
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Oedipus and Sphinx
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Oedipus and Sphinx
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Oedipus and Sphinx
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Audience at Theater of Delphi
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TIMELINE OF GREEK DRAMA

• 7th Century BC
• c. 625         Arion at Corinth produces named
  dithyrambic choruses
• 6th Century BC
•  600-570      Cleisthenes, tyrant of Sicyon,
  transfers "tragic choruses" to Dionysus
•   540-527      Pisistratus, tyrant of Athens,
  founds the festival of the Greater Dionysia

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TIMELINE OF GREEK DRAMA

• 536-533      Thespis puts on tragedy at festival
  of the Greater Dionysia in Athens
• 525         Aeschylus was born
•  511-508      Phrynichus' first victory in
  tragedy
• c. 500         Pratinus of Phlius introduces the
  satyr play to Athens

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TIMELINE OF GREEK DRAMA

• 5th Century BC
•   499-496 Aeschylus' first dramatic competition
• c. 496      Sophocles was born
• 492         Phrynicus' Capture of Miletus
  (Miletus was captured by the Persians in 494)
•  485         Euripides was born
•  484         Aeschylus' first dramatic victory
•  472         Aeschylus' Persians
•   467        Aeschylus' Seven Against Thebes
• 468         Aeschylus defeated by Sophocles in
  dramatic competition

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TIMELINE OF GREEK DRAMA

• 463?        Aeschylus' Suppliant Women
•   458         Aeschylus' Oresteia (Agamemnon,
  Libation Bearers, Eumenides)
•   456         Aeschylus dies
• c. 450         Aristophanes was born
•   447         Parthenon begun in Athens
• c. 445         Sophocles' Ajax
•   441         Sophocles' Antigone
•   438         Euripides' Alcestis
•   431-404      Peloponnesian War (Athens and
  allies vs. Sparta and allies)

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TIMELINE OF GREEK DRAMA

• 431         Euripides' Medea
• c. 429         Sophocles' Oedipus the King
•   428         Euripides' Hippolytus
•   423         Aristophanes' Clouds
•   415         Euripides' Trojan Women
•   406         Euripides dies Sophocles dies
•   405         Euripides' Bacchae
• 404         Athens loses Peloponnesian War to
  Sparta

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TIMELINE OF GREEK DRAMA

• 401 Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus
• 4th Century BC
•   399          Trial and death of Socrates
• c. 380's        Plato's Republic includes
  critique of Greek tragedy and comedy
• c. 330's        Aristotle's Poetics includes
  defense of Greek tragedy and comedy

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Delphi
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• Indeed, some say that dramas are so called,
  because their authors represent the characters as
  "doing" them (drôntes). And it is on this basis
  that the Dorians the Spartans, etc. lay claim
  to the invention of both tragedy and comedy. For
  comedy is claimed by the Megarians here in
  Greece, who say it began among them at the time
  when they became a democracy c. 580 BC, and by
  the Megarians of Sicily on the grounds that the
  poet Epicharmas came from there and was much
  earlier than Chionides and Magnes while tragedy
  is claimed by certain Dorians of the Peloponnese.
  They offer the words as evidence, noting that
  outlying villages, called dêmoi by the Athenians,
  are called kômai by them, and alleging that
  kômôdoi (comedians) acquired their name, not from
  kômazein (to revel), but from the fact that,
  being expelled in disgrace from the city, they
  wandered from village to village. The Dorians
  further point out that their word for "to do" is
  drân, whereas the Athenians use prattein.
  (Aristotle Poetics Chapter 3)

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