Greek Theatre History The Birth of Drama Prologue

Greek Theatre History The Birth of Drama

Prologue: Origins of Drama • Between 600 -200 B. C. ancient Athenians created an outstanding theatre culture that has lasted 2 millennia and still influences plays today.

Prologue: Origins of Drama • Only two other periods in theatre history have equaled that in ancient Athens: – Elizabethan England. Shakespeare – 20 th Century – 1, 000’s of plays and films

Cult of Dionysus • Dates back to at least 1200 B. C. • In Thrace (Northern Greece) a cult worshipped Dionysus– God of human & agricultural fertility

Cult of Dionysus • Ritual celebrations – Intoxications, orgies, human/animal sacrifice, hysterical rampages by women called maenads • Most controversial practice- – Uninhibited dancing and emotional displays that created altered mental states – ecstasis (ecstasy) – Important release of powerful emotions • Cult spread through the tribes of Greece for 6 centuries – Rites of Dionysus became more mainstream and civilized

Cult of Dionysus • Dithyramb – Key part of the Rite of Dionysus – It was a ode to Dionysus performed by a chorus of 50 men dressed as satyrs • Servants of Dionysus – Played drums, lyres, & flutes – Chanted & danced around an effigy (likeness) of Dionysus – Wore phallus-like headgear – Began as a religious ceremony and over time, evolved into stories, drama, and play form.

The Main Act: Golden Age of Greek Theater • By 600 B. C. Greece was divided into city-states, separate nations, centered around major cities or regions. – Most prominent was Athens – In Athens, Rites of Dionysus evolved into what we know today at theatre

Golden Age of Greek Theatre • Thespis (of Attica): – Added an actor who interacted with the chorus • Called him the protagonist – main character of a drama • Thespian: “actor” – derived from Thespis

Athenian Drama Competitions • 534 B. C. - Ruler of Athens changed the Dionysian Festivals & added drama competitions – Thespis won the 1 st competition – Competition become popular annual event

Athenian Drama Competitions • Archon- Gov. authority would choose competitors • Choregos- Wealthy patrons who financed the productions – In return for funding, the choregos would not pay any taxes for that year

Amphitheaters • Major theaters were in Delphi, Attica, & Athens -(Theater of Dionysus) • Built at foot of the Acropolis – Hill where Parthenon (temple to Athena) is built – Could seat 17, 000 people

Greek Theater Diagram

Parts of Theater of Dionysus • Theatron: “seeing place” – Origins of the word “theater” – Slope without any seating • Orchestra: “dancing place” – Platform between the raised stage & the audience on which the chorus was situated • Thymele: altar dedicated to Dionysus placed in the middle

Parts of Theater of Dionysus Continued… • Skene “hut” or “tent” – On the side of the orchestra opposite the audience – Place where actors could retire & change clothes – Eventually was decorated for backdrops for scenes

Parts of Theater of Dionysus Continued… • Deus ex Machina – “God from machine” – Common occurrence in Greek drama was the appearance of a god • Actor would descend from air about the stage to the surface of the stage on a crane-like device called a machina (machine) • Overuse of gods to resolve difficult dramatic situations led to a contrived (too perfect) ending

How Plays Were Performed • Annual competitions took most of the day & were spread out over several days • Performed in the daytime Used little or no scenery • Most action took place on the orchestra – Later action shifts to the stage

Greek Actors • Wore little or no makeup – Wore masks that exaggerated facial expressions • Made of lightweight materials such as bark, cork, leather, and linen • Had megaphone structure in the mouth opening of the mask to project the actor’s voice • Masks allowed actors to play many parts and change costumes/characters easily • Masks were also called personas

Greek Actors Continued… • Actor wore a long, flowing robe, dyed in symbolic colorschiton • Wore high platform boots called cothurni

Greek Chorus • Composed of 15 men • Had to sing and dance • Had five major purposes

Purposes of the Greek Chorus • 1. Acted as a group character who expressed opinions, gave advice, & threatened to interfere with the action of the play • 2. Expressed the author’s point of view & established a standard against which all action s would be judged • 3. Acted as the ideal spectator – reacting the way the author wanted the audience to react

Purposes of the Greek Chorus Continued… • 4. Established mood & heightened dramatic effect • 5. Added color, movement, & spectacle

Tragedy • Between 600 -500 B. C. , the dithyramb evolved into 2 forms – Tragedy and comedy • Tragedy- “tragos” (goat song) – Story intended to teach a religious lesson – Weren’t just plays with bad endings

Tragedy Continued… • Depicted life voyages of people who steered themselves on collision courses with society, life’s rules, or fate – Tragic protagonist who refuse to give in to fate (because of weakness or strength) • Hubris: Protagonist’s main fault – arrogance – Ex. Oedipus Rex

Tragic Form • Aeschylus: the first playwright – 1. Turned the dithyramb into drama – 2. Added a second actor (antagonist) to interact with the 1 st – 3. Introduced props and scenery – 4. His masterpiece-Oresteia – legend of Agamemnon, Greek war hero, who murdered his wife, Clytemnestra, and the pursuit of justice by his kids

Tragic Form 1. Prologue (prologos)-described the situation & set the scene 2. Parados-Ode sung by chorus as it made its entrance on the paradoi 3. Five dramatic scenes/episodes-Action performed by the characters 4. Each followed by a stasimon/odeexchange of laments between chorus & protagonist -strophe and antistrophe (odes) 4. Exodus- chorus sings final lines while it exits the stage (climax & conclusion)

Tragic Form Continued… • Often presented in trilogies with satyr plays between each – Men dressed as satyrs making fun of their surroundings (birth of satire)

Aristotle Said… • Tragedy’s main purpose was to arouse the audience in fear & emotion, & by doing so, purge the audience of those feelings – Catharsis

Periclean Age • Aeschylus’ death marked a period in which the arts and democracy flourished – 456 B. C.

Sophocles • Sophocles defeated Aeschylus at City Dionysia (theatre festival) 468 B. C. • Added a third actor to the tragedy • Emphasized the drama between humans rather than gods and humans • Used irony in his plays • Oedipus trilogy

Oedipus Trilogy by Sophocles • Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex) • Oedipus at Colonnus • Antigone * All are about the folly of arrogance & the wisdom of accepting fate

Euripides • 480 -406 B. C. • His point of view resembled the attitude of people today • Not about gods or royalty but REAL people – Gave feelings of peasants & princes equal weight • Portrays society’s forgotten: women, slaves, aged • Added the prologue – set the stage for the play & deus ex machina • Trojan Women- anti-war masterpiece

Comedy • Cast molds for many Roman, Elizabethan, and modern comedies

Old Comedy (Satires) -Aristophanes • Made the opening chorus into the playwright’s address to the audience • Humorous opinion piece that made fun of the gods • “Sacred cows” were attacked (warriors, youth, intellectuals)

New Comedy Menander - • Aimed more toward common people & less concerned with religious origins • Mistaken identity, ironic situations, ordinary characters, & wit • Less use of orchestra & more use of upper staging • Menander’s characters were ordinary people- much like later comedy – Classic archetypes – grouchy old man (The Grouch)

The Final Curtain • 406 B. C. (Sophocles’ death) golden era of Greek drama was waning – Overrun by Spartans, constant warring with other city-states, and dominated by Alexander the Great *Would not return to the same creative heights for 2 centuries. Elizabethan England