Ancient Greek Drama

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Ancient Greek Drama
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• Originated in Athens, Greece and reached its
  peak in the fifth century B.C.
• Grew from ancient religious rituals.

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Greek Mythology

• Zeus
• Apollo
• Dionysus

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Dionysus

• Son of Zeus a mortal woman

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• Mother was killed while pregnant by Zeuss
  lightning bolt
• Underwent resurrection 2nd birth from Zeuss
  thigh

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Dionysus

• God of wine and fertility in nature
• God of common people
• Thought to liberate worshippers from personal
  trouble

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Dionysus was a suffering god

• Ceremonies were not compatible w/ Greek tradition
  
• Rapid movements of hands body
• Hysterical screaming
• Cycle of lamenting and rejoicing

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• Dionysuss teachings went against Apollos
  teachings of restraint.
• Apollos follows believed in Nothing too much
  and
• Know thyself

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• Often the worship of Dionysus was forbidden
• More women worshippers than men

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A Suffering God

• Dionysus was believed to have undergone death and
  resurrection
• Religious ceremony mirrored this
• Lamenting mirrored gods death
• Rejoicing with wild dancing and singing mirrored
  gods resurrection
• Often involved animal sacrifices

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• Service served as a social safety valve
• After service worshippers left with peace of mind
  
• Was a type of catharsis

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Dithyrambs

• Choral lyric poems in honor of Dionysus
• Sung while dancing around altar
• Performed by 50 men dressed in goat skins (sacred
  animals of the gods)

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Dithyrambs

• Later evolved into what we see as chorus
• Goats later awarded as prizes in tragedy
  festivals

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Dithyrambs

• Tragedy goat song (tragoidia)
• Men represented satyrs (Dionysuss companions

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Dithyrambs evolved

• Became poetic in form
• Included stories of gods and heroes

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• Arion (writer) was the 1st to write dithyramb as
  literature in poetic form

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Choragos

• The leader of the chorus filled in the intervals
  between portions of lyric poems with stories of
  Dionysus

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Peisistratus

• Ruler of Athens
• 6th Century B.C.
• Gave official recognition to tragedy
• Festival instituted

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Thespis
Middle of 6th century BC

• Introduced first actor
• Hypokrites - answerer
• Performed between dances of the chorus
• Would take several roles change costumes many
  times - wore mask
• Conversed w/ leader of chorus

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Thespis

• The Father of Drama was born in Attica, and was
  the first prize winner at the Great Dionysia in
  534 BC.
• He was an important innovator for the theatre,
  since he introduced such things as the
  independent actor, as opposed to the choir, as
  well as masks, make up and costumes.

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Aeschylus added the second actor

• With this addition, drama was born
• Possibility of conflict
• Chorus was reduced to 12

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Sophocles

• Added 3rd actor
• Stabilized chorus at 15
• Introduced painted sets

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Sophocles

• Prominent citizen of Athens
• Generally considered the greatest of ancient
  Greek playwrights
• Known for musical, poetic, and dramatic talents
• General, political leader,
• priest

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Socrates taught

• That man possessed a certain freedom of will and
  action and a person could live out his life with
  dignity, bringing upon himself no more than his
  allotted share of grief.

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• Every persons fate held in store a personal
  allotment of unavoidable misery.
• Misery in itself was not tragic but was to be
  expected.

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Career spanned 62 years

• At age of 17, was leader of the chorus
• At age of 28, won prize and defeated leading
  playwright of the day
• Wrote 120 plays
• Won 1st place 24 times for 72 plays
• Never won less that 2nd prize (7 times)
• Names of nearly 100 plays known today
• Seven complete plays survive today

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Contributions

• Added the third actor
• Fixed the number of chorus members to 15
• Introduced painted scenery
• Made each play of trilogy separate in nature
• Wrote Oedipus (430 B.C.), Oedipus at Colonus
  (405 B.C.) and Antigone (440 B.C.)
• Plays always contain a moral lesson usually a
  caution against pride

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Production of the plays
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Tragedy as an art form

• Reached its height in 5th century B.C.
• Tragedies presented at Tragedy Festivals
• Originally presented in honor of god Dionysus

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Dionysia - Festival

• Most important of 3 annual festivals
• Plays produced by state
• 5 days in March/April

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Festival Structure

• DAY 1
• Grand procession w/ statue of Dionysus carried to
  the theatre sacred parade
  
• A herald would announce the competing plays
• DAYS 2 3 - 5 Dithyrambs Men
• 5 Dithyrambs Boys

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Festival Schedule

• DAYS 4 - 6 Drama contest
• Each playwright presented three tragedies - 1
  satyr play (ridicule gods or heroes)
• Later a comedy also presented
• Only 3 playwrights participated

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• Actors were chosen by state earlier in the year
• Public businesses suspended
• Prisoners released on bail
• 14,000 spectators
• Attendance mandatory religious obligation
• Citizens often required to participate in
  productions

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Spectators

• Men and women were segregated
• Originally free
• When trouble over seats fee charged
• State provided fund for those who couldnt pay.

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Playwrights Responsibilities

• Wrote plays
• Composed music
• Directed
• Supervised rehearsals
• Acted
• Assigned actors, chorus, musicians, etc.

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• Costs paid by wealthy citizens (honor)
• Was considered a public service
• Required as a special tax on wealthy
• Shared praise

Sponsor
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Prizes

• Wreaths,
• Crowns of ivy
• Bull,
• Goat
• Name carved in marble

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judges

• 10 20 judges were chosen by government
• Elaborate precautions to prevent corruption

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Thespis

• Winner of the first contest

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Other winners

• Aeschylus
• Sophocles
• Euripides

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Theater
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Actors and Acting

• Hypocrites (answerer)
• Never more than three actors in a
  performance
• All male performers

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Costumes and Masks

• Long flowing robes
• Colored symbolically
• Often padded to add stature
• High boots with raised soles
• Props carried to identify roles

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Larger Than Life Masks

• Made of linen, wood, cork
• Made with human or animal hair
• Exaggerated features large eyes and open mouth

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Masks continued

• Used to inspire audience (larger than mortals)
• Hid actors face from gods as they impersonated
  them
• Acted as megaphone to amplify voices
• Identified age, gender and rank of character
• Called a persona
• Choir masks much simpler

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Chorus
Points out significance of events
Gives advice
Identifies themes
Ideal Spectator
Introduces questions new characters
Passage of time or transition between scenes
Gives background information
Entertains
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Conventions of Tragedy

• Unities of time, place, action
• Techniques of stichomythia, strophe, antistrophe,
  epode, and in media res
• Messenger who tells happenings offstage and
  reports acts of violence (never allowed on stage

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Conventions continued

• No violence on stage
• The action always takes place outdoors
• There were limitations of the theater
• No intermission
• No lighting, no curtain
• Myths were already known to audience playwright
  had to rely on dramatic irony

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Structure of tragedy

• Prologue
• Parados
• Episodes
• Stasimon
• Paean
• Exodus

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Prologue

• Opening scene
• Background of story is established
• Single actor

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Episodes

• Counterparts of Acts
• 4 8 in a tragedy
• (known as scenes in our translation)

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Stasimon

• Choral ode at the end of each episode
• Originally a poem written to be sung
• Serves to separate the scenes since no curtains
  were present provides the chorus response to
  the preceding scene

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Paean

• A choral hymn in praise of a god
• In Antigone praise to Dionysus, in whose honor
  the Greeks presented their plays

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Exodus

• Exit of Chorus and Actors

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Definition of Tragedy

• Defined by Aristotle in 335 BC in Poetics
• Told to arouse emotions of pity and fear in
  audience
• Pity because the tragic hero is not an evil man
  punishment is too great
• Fear because of the possibility of error in
  ourselves
• Produces catharsis in audience (new understanding
  of gods and man)
• Produces catharsis in audience come away with
  new understanding of gods and man
• Tells story of downfall (catastrophe) of tragic
  hero
• Order is restored in the end of the play

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Tragic Hero

• Noble
• Powerful respected
• Tempts fate
• Has a tragic flaw in personality (usually pride)
• Brings extraordinary amounts of sorrow and
  suffering on himself
• Undergoes a reversal of fortune
• Has a moment of self awareness
• Dies or wishes to be dead in the end of the play

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Basic Concepts of Greek Culture

• Believed every persons life ruled by
  predetermined fate a natural force set in
  motion by the gods and one that could not be
  altered
• Believed every persons fate held in store a
  personal allotment of unavoidable misery
• Believed man possessed a certain freedom of will
  and action and could live out his life with
  dignity, bringing upon himself no more than his
  allotted share of grief

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Basic concepts of Greek Culture continued

• Believed man was inferior to the gods because he
  was mortal and fallible
• Believed man was to be punished if he defied the
  gods