Greek Theater History and Development Theater of Dionysus

Greek Theater History and Development

Theater of Dionysus - History • Regular part of the communal life of the city • Began as a dance - oldest element was a chorus group of dancers • "Chorus" in Greek means dance not song (think of the word choreography) • Although primitive dances occur throughout many cultures, only Athenian Dionysian festivals turned into drama!

The First Actor - A Hypocrite • Who introduced the first actor? Thespis, which is why actors are called thespians • Why break the chorus? Began most likely w/ a playwright separating a person from the group so the single figure could answer questions or issues of the group -- allows more than just the chorus' messages b/c there is someone to play off • Greeks called this first actor hypokrites, which in Greek originally meant "to answer" • The connection from hypokrites to hypocrite-- think about it: an actor does an impression of what they are not, and a hypocrite betrays what they are by symbolically doing something w/ a mask (becoming someone else)

Theater in Sophocles’ Day • Plays in theater of Dionysus were an act of worship • Dionysus: god of fertility -- all living, growing things, especially the vine • Festival took place in early spring (when things bloom!) • Theater only in season for the three-day festival, so heavily attended • 3 days of song and religious procession • 3 days of tragedy competition • Each day one poet (dramatist) presented 3 original tragedies and a fertility play • Each afternoon a comic poet offered a comedy

Performances • Plays were performed only once • Funded by the polis • Plays were presented in competition w/ one another • Tragedies dealt w/ stories from the mythic past • Comedies with contemporary figures and problems

Why Tragedy Specifically? • The chorus represents the people • The chorus chant would lament the anguish or sins/misdeeds/issues/problems of the year • Tragedy is a framework wherein these issues can be aired, and everyone can experience the cleansing – sort of like confession • Catharsis – allows people to collectively experience a release of tension and come away pure

Setting the Stage • Theaters were outdoor • Three actors wore masks, alternated them to play different roles (changed in the skene area) • A chorus also occupied the orchestra (performance space), moving, singing, and responding to the action of the play; acted as a kind of collective conscience

Layout Skene - literally “tent” decorated as a backdrop and used as a changing area Orchestra - literally “dancing space” - performance space where chorus interacted w/ the actors; often included an altar to Dionysus in the center Theatron - seating area Parados - entrance/exit (think “parade route”)

Amphitheater at Delphi

Identify the Theater’s Elements Skene Orchestra Parados Theatron

Play Structure - Overview • After a prologue spoken by one or more characters, the chorus enters, singing and dancing. Scenes then alternate between spoken sections (dialogue between characters, and between characters and chorus) and sung sections (during which the chorus danced)

Play Structure - Components • Prologue: One or two characters give the mythological background • Parodos: Sung by the chorus as it first enters the orchestra and dances • Episodes: When the characters and chorus interact • Stasimons: At the end of each episode, the other characters usually leave the stage and the chorus dances and sings a stasimon, or choral ode. The ode usually reflects on the things said and done in the episodes, and puts it into some kind of larger mythological framework • Exodos: At the end of play, the chorus exits singing a processional song which usually offers words of wisdom related to the actions and outcome of the play

Geography of the Play http: //wapedia. mobi/en/Ancient_Thebes_(Boeotia)

Story of Oedipus • O considers himself the son of Polybos, King of Corinth, but in reality he wsa to have been exposed as a baby on Mt. Kithaeron to die – his ankles fastened with a pin holding them together. But a shepherd took pity on him and carried him to Corinth • O grows up a prince of Corinth – son of Polybos and Merope

O Receives Bad News • O overhears a conversation that intimates he is not Polybos’ son • He goes to the oracle at Delphi, who tell him he is destined for tragedy – that he will kill his father and marry his mother • The threat of patricide (a serious transgression) is so strong he banishes himself from Corinth to escape the prophecy

Story of Oedipus, Part 3 • In his wanderings he meets an old man with some friends at a crossroads • There is a quarrel and O kills the old man • O continues on and finally comes to Thebes, where the sphinx terrorizes the city

The Riddle of the Sphinx • What goes on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three legs at evening?

Oedipus Takes the Throne • O, strong in intellect, solves the riddle and the sphinx kills herself • The people are grateful, crown him king of Thebes since their king Laius has been killed while on a journey • O marries Jocasta, the widow queen, and they have two sons and two daughters

Thebes Plagued • 15 years of fake prosperity pass – the gods are disgusted • The land is sterile; nothing will grow; animals do not bring forth young, no children are born alive • Thebes is threatened with extinction, and the people come to O asking him to help them again

The Questions • Who has caused the gods to so harass Thebes? What was the crime? • How can Thebes be saved, (if indeed it can be)? • The play is not calm – it is fraught with tension, fear, boldness, moving almost to hysteria • The play concerns not only the life or death of an individual, but an entire polis – a whole people