Multimedia - Development Of Ideas

Once we had been put into our groups and had been given our scene, we started to go through possible ideas that went with the brief we had already been given. One of the ideas was that we used a tree outside to film Antigone hanging herself and then instead of projecting this onto a wall, you could project it onto a screen behind the same tree so the image matches up. This would make it look like Antigone was hanging from the real life tree making the whole event seem more real and possible. This is because when you mix footage with real-life things like the tree it isn't just a image any more. It becomes something very real that can happen to anyone in any circumstance     . However, this was one idea of many around the brief of 'repeated footage of Antigone hanging herself and Heamon stabbing himself on repeat'. We talked about having a video of a messeger running through various landscapes in order to get to his destination. Although, these ides weren't taken any further than just discussing them. We then started to consider the space we were given to work in and realised that the only space provided for us was one of the theatre rooms. This meant that showing footage of Antigone hanging herself down by a tree was not possible as all footage had to take place in the theatre room. The reason for this was that the projectors were in the theatre rooms and these couldn't be transported anywhere else. The limited space available made us consider how we were going to show three different sets of footage on only one projector screen. We discussed having a split screen when showing Antigone and Heamons death when the audience are entering and then switching to showing footage of the messeger on the full screen when the audience are settled in the space. It would then go back to playing Antigone and Heamons death on repeat but in the background. Another possible way of doing it was to have Antigones death played over the whole screen and then switch to Heamons death. So instead of playing them both at the same time you alternate between each piece of footage. We thought it would be better to make this decision when it came to editing our footage as it depends on how it looks and how easy it is to out the footage into a spilt screen.

The next lesson was focused on developing our ideas further for multimedia within our given scenes. We were also given a chance to put these ideas into practise in order to experiment and move our ideas forward accordingly. We took the stimulus (repeated footage of Antigone hanging herself and Heamon stabbing herself) and ideas already developed in the previous lesson further. An idea was given by Cameron of having footage of the Messenger running through various extreme landscapes in order to reach the space. This footage would allow us to create the illusion that the Messenger has endured a long and tiresome journey. I think this would build up some suspense or possibly tension as the audience is unaware of why this footage is being played. It gives the sense of something approaching, this doesn't have to be a person, it could be a sensation of trouble or terror looming ahead. This feeling of trouble ahead has a strong link with the footage of Antigone and Heamon killing themselves as the audience is immediately presented with a very dramatic action of suicide which straight away would create a feeling of uneasy. The feeling of uneasy only makes the suspense and foreboding strong through the journey as the audience knows that their can only be a negative outcome to this because of the previously seen suicide. It also links in with the character Teiresias as he has already predicted that no good would come out of this situation, adding to the theme of looming sorrow and pain. 

We then developed this idea through trying out various ways to film it, our group came to the conclusion that this footage would be best filmed by a shaky camera. We thought this because a shaky camera gives the sense of instability and urgency. By filming it this way it gives the impression that someone is running after the messenger, this gives the footage urgency as the messenger is so important that someone is trying hard to keep up and failing, showing how fast he is running. The instability also enhances this feeling of uneasiness and insecurity with the oncoming events as even the camera is unstable. We also had some ideas about changing between slow-motion and normal speed to give a more dramatic effect. However we are still developing and debating over this idea, we can't know or develop this idea fully until we get to the editing process as it's hard to know what it will look like in slow motion.
 
I then had the idea to find images on-line of people, mainly young people, who have committed suicide and hang them from the poles going across the room. I thought this would make the issues raised in our peice more relevant to moreden day. Suicide is a common topic in todays society and self harms happenes a lot, especially around the young generation. Having these suicide victims drapped around the room also brings attention tot he suicide in the greek tragedy. Often you excpect a death in greek plays and suicide is a common way of dying therefore it doen't always have a large impact on the audience as it would if it happened to someone today. By hanging the on string from the pole will mean that it wont be obvious to the auidence what the images represent. I like this idea as it means it is open to interpertaion and will keep the audience thinking about possible meaning for these photos. Although this is effective we may have to have some kind of hint so to nudge them in the write direction, this will mean that they can wonder about the meaning yet still staying within the theme of suicide victimes. This lead me to think that if we could hang the images from the pole, but so that the string is wrapped around the image as if they are being hung, giving the images an air of suicide but without pointing it out directy so people minds are still free to interpretate. This will hopefully  mean that the audience can reflect more in depth about the issues raised and connect strongly with these issues. This could even spur them on to take some action or offer support to people who seem in danger of suicide, therefore having a postive effect on the community. 

Antigone In Context Of Language and Setting

An extract of Owen McCaffery Antigone

Last lesson I worked on the scene between Antigone and Creon from the adapted version of Antigone by Owen McCaffery. In this scene Antigone was brought to Creon to answer for her crime of burying her brother, the scene consisted of them arguing over who is right or wrong while defending their actions. I really enjoy the way Owen McCaffery writes his play. Having already done in depth work on his play 'The Absence of Women', his style of writing was familiar to me. Owen McCaffery has no punction in his play apart from dashes in between what may be sentences. Even names are not given a capital letter. I love this because it means the pace that you preform the play at is yours to chose as there is no full stops or commas to mark where there must be a pause. This, in my opinion, gives the piece a nice flow as your able to say it as you would naturaly. I felt Owen McCaffery version was very different to the other text used in the lesson. McCaffery's version still had the concepts of religious laws against state law, which comes from the original text by Sophocles, whereas the second version seemed to have taken out all the depth from the text and turned it into a 'nice little story'. I also felt that the seriousness of the issue didn't come across in the second version and the whole event seemed to be something of a joke, this could steam from the fact that the profoundness of the original play wasn't convaed. I learn't later that the second version was written for a young audience such as children aged 8 or 9.  I felt that the language used in McCaffery's version didn't have a huge impact on the character because the language had only modernised it to a certain extent. The language was changed so that we could understand it easily and it would have a better flow as we don't use language such as 'thy'. However, he hadn't taken the language so far that it represented a certain type of person in society. For example, if he had included slang such as 'fam' or 'sick' then it would have had a larger impact on the character because these words represent a certain type of person that would then be brought into the character. Although, the change in language did have an effect on the character, even if it wasn't as drastic change. McCaffery included words such as 'fuck' which, for me, made the character more extreme in their emotion because the work 'fuck' is often used to empathise something such as anger or annoyance.

My group decided to set the piece in a modern day pub, like the one you might have found in the East End. We changed the plot and characters slightly to fit the setting, for example Creon became the landlord of the pub instead of the King of Thebes. This way he still has the overall authority but it was in context as King of England when its set in a pub doesn't really fit. Then, the rest of the characters all became people within in the pub, like costumers or employees. Antigone, Ismene, Heamon and Eurycies all became people who worked in the pub, however Eurydice wasn't a bar tender like the others because she was Creon's wife. Instead she just looked down Antigone, showing her authority and hatred for her. The chours and Teiresias then became the customers in the pub. Our group managed to stage a peice that went from the start of the play untill just after Antigone askes Ismene for help in burying her brother, or in the case of our play to help him find a job. We changed the context to the two brothers being fired from the pub instead of killing each other becuase we though it would fit better with our story line. However, now that look back on it I have relised that the brothers could have killed each other in a fight that broke out in the pub which would have made more sense and fitted better with the original text. The characters became not quiet cockney or a typical person from the east end but they were leaning towards that. Antigone had a lot more attitude and seemed less afraid of the consequences or Creon. She seemed a lot more sure of herself, however whether she truly felt sure is another matter. The language became more informal and contained slang.

Notes on the other groups pieces - 
   
Piece 1 - Jed's Group

• I though that this group had incorparated the chours in the most effective way out of all of the other groups. I was very clearly definied that there was a chours. The chours had beeen chaged to fit the context of a school, the chours was now three gossiping school girls. These girls spoke in unison at some and had very exaggerated gestures and voice. I though it was very effective as it enbaled them to get through the story quickly, making sure the audience wasnt lost, yet still keeping with the setting and even adding humor at some points. 
• The characters had also all been changed to fit the setting and it all made a lot of sense. They used the ranks of teacher and student to create the authority shown by Creon, who was the headmaster. What I like most about this setting is that it was very easy to relate to. Greek theatre can often seem like another concpet that doesn't fit into modern society. However, as young people, a school seemed very close to home. This rebellious attitude that Antigone posses is seen in all school, especially when it comes to talking to teachers. Even if you aren't the one being rebellious their will be someone in a class who acts like that, and probably at some point you will witness this. Making a school a very relatable setting. 

Piece 2 - Nina's Group 

• This group set their piece on social media which I thought was so creative and relevant to the society that we live in. It was an original idea that really caught my attention. I found the piece very easy to understand as it was so relatable. For example, there was a section where they added Roy onto the facebook chat and his response was 'Why am I here'. This not only added a huge amount of humour but gave the piece a realistic and relatable aspect as nearly all teenagers have been added to a chat that has no relevance to their life. I also really liked how being on social media means each character is in their own space, to me it represent how each character does their own thing no matter how it effects everyone else. 
• However I thought the plot got lost in the piece. The idea of social media was a great idea but the idea had to have been worked on more so the setting and the plot both come across as the plot wasn't clear at all in this piece. They could have used Antonia as a voice for the chours rather than just to say who is  being added in or out of the group chat. 

Piece 3 - Sarah's Group

• Sarah's group set Antigone in a gang, which kept the ideas of a hierarchy shown in Antigone. Creon who's was the boss of the gang held all the power, while everyone else must work around his needs.
• The setting meant that a lot of comedy came out of it which made the piece enjoyable. However, sometimes I felt that the comedy was taking away from the seriousness of the play and the fact it is a Greek Tragedy. 
• The groups language changed in order to fit the setting and this was really effective. It made the piece a lot more realistic and interesting to watch as you were presented with a whole new character that differed from Sophocles version entirely.

Piece 4 - Nancy's Group 

•  Nancy's group set their piece in the Big Brother house. I thought it was a good idea but the plot of Antigone didn't really fit in this setting. I didn't quiet understand why their was a dead person in the big brother house? Or why 'Creon' was forbbiding anybody to bury the body? Surley if someone died in the big brother house then the programme would be stopped and other people would intervene???? This was really confusing and made me as an audience member lose concentration and miss key parts of the piece.
•  Apart from that, the piece was very good. It provided a lot of humour which worked really well and was relevant to modern day society. The lanuage didn't change significantly but it changed enough to fit the setting. 

Piece 5 - Roseby's Group

• Roseby's group set Antigone in a Mafia gang. This was very simliar to Sarah's group, however the gang shown in Sarah's piece seemed to be set in a typical back street gang in London where as Roseby's is set in the Mafia. I thought the plot of Antigone fitted very well with this setting as shootings and deaths are probably quiet common among the Mafia. The idea of status also worked well with this setting as there is always a boss within the Mafia who holds all power over the rest of the gang.
• The language was changed to fit the situation and this worked really well. For example, instead of calling Creon by his name he was simply refered to as 'Boss'. This as made it perfectly clear who had all the power. Swear words were also included, as they were in most other pieces, giving this piece and all the other pieces a modern and relistic feel. By using swear words it felt as if the issues in Antigone weren't trying to be sugar coated and were being presented as the brutal reality that they are. This applies to all the other pieces apart from Lloyd's group as they didn't use swearing.

Piece 6 - Lloyd's Group

• Lloyd's group took Antigone and put into the context of a posh upper class family from the 1900s. This was the only group to take Antigone back in time and not set it in the modern world. I liked this because it gave us a modern audience a look into a world that it completely forgien to us. 
• The laguage changed dramatically making it fit within the context. They used words like 'pipsqueak' to exaggerate this idea of a upper class family. The change in lamugage gave a lot of comedy as the concept of using words like ' pipsqueak' just seems wired to us. There was no slang in this piece and all the language used was very formal. This worked really well in context!
• I also liked how Tim, who played Creon, asked for grapes from his servants and ate them during the piece. To me, this seemed like a link to the classic images from Greek times when the empora or ruler would lie on a couch eating grapes. This was a nice link to the original Antigone by Sophocles, as it meant that the origins of the play weren't lost or forgotten about. 

Research and Thoughts On 'Antigone'

Antigone's Family Tree:

1. I really like the concepts that are presented in the play as I think there important and are relevant to today. Of course there are many ideas shown in the play but the one I think has the most relevance is this idea of moral/religious law vs state law. In particular, the moral vs state laws as sometimes society does put the state law above their morals which I believe is wrong. The story, being a tragedy, is extremely dramatic because it shows the worst senario which is that most of the characters die. This would probably not be the case in reality. While I do think that some of these deaths are unnecessary I do understand that in order to make a point the writer has shown the worst to increase the impact on the viewers and make them reflect. The fact that King Creon accepts responsibility at the end is a great way to end the piece as it demonstrates the concept of owning your wrong doing. This concludes the play as it reiterates the concept of responsibility, a theme throughout the play, and ends with King Creon feeling a moral consequence to his actions and not a state one. 

2. Sophocles wrote Antigone to conclude the 'Theban plays'  The play concludes the series as the theme shows that the protagonist is about to meet a fate that cannot be controlled, therefore leading to the end of it all. He also wrote it to raise issues in society without causing any disturbance in society. Some significant themes of Antigone are: 

• Free will and fate 
• Rules and order
• Determination 
• Power
• The role of women
• Morals

3. The Greeks would have wanted to this play as its the final part of the 'Theban plays', therefore the audience would have been excited to see how it all ends. It was also written by Sophocles who was a well known and respected writer therefore people may have wanted to see his work a lot more. 

1.What information does Antigone give to Ismene at the beginning of this scene?

She tells Ismene that King Creon has ruled that Polynices shall not be buried as he was the brother that invaded and killed his brother, Eteocles, while Eteocles will recovered a full honored burial. 

2.What has just happened in the sisters’ family?
Their brothers,Eteocles and Polynices, have just died in battle. 


3.What does Antigone plan to do? Why?
Antigone wishes to bury her brother,Polynices, even though the King has forbidden it. 

4.Does Ismene plan to join her? Why or why not?
Ismene refuses to join her because she feels there is nothing they can do as King Creon,the man holding the power, has ruled against burying him.  


5.What story does the chorus tell us about?

At the beginning the chours tell the story of the battle that takes place before Antigone begins. It ends with both male descendent from Oedipus dead and leaves the city without a ruler descended from Oedipus. Creon becomes king. 

How Multimedia Is Used Effectively In performances

Task 2  - How can we use Multimedia effectively in performances

'Multimedia in performance' means that the performance doesn't just contain acting. It uses other mediums such as video, sound, art such as paint and light. 

TYPE OF MEDIA	EXAMPLE OF USE IN PERFORMANCE	POSITIVES OF USING IT…	NEGATIVES OF USING IT…
VIDEO CAMERA	Projecting ready made videos onto a screen within the performance.	You can incorporate different locations that you wouldn't be able to create in the theatre space.	Technical faults are possible both on the night of the performance and during the filming process. Certain skills are needed to do this process.
SOUND	Sound effects	It create an effective atmosphere that can give the audience a closer emotional connection to the play	The sound could drown out or take away from the acting and the  message that is trying to be put across by the actors.
LIGHT	Torch light can be used when held by the actors , like in East End Tales.	It gives the play a 'stunning' quality and helps to create certain effects that/or emphasise emotions.	You must be aware of the amount of light your using as too little will mean the audience won't be able to see anything and too much could 'blind' the audience or lose the effect.
PHOTOGRAPHS	Photos could be held by performers or be littered around the stage.	Photos of people or events help to represent deeper messages within the play or show the connection between characters that don't have a physical presence on the stage.	Photographs could be too small to see by the audience so the size must be taken into account. However, this then bring another issue of the clarity of the image as most photos decrease in clarity the larger you make them.

Examples of multimedia being used in performance 

What type of multimedia was used? Did it enhance the performance? How and why

Example of Multimedia in preformance

Example of Multimedia in preformance

Programme from Antigone

Recently I saw Antigone in The Theatre Royal Stratford East. This was a modernised version of Antigone where the Greek script had been translated into modern day 'slang'. This made the play extremley funny and interesting to watch. It also inculded multimedia in the form of live projections (live feed) of what was going on on stage onto the back wall. I though that the projections were very effective in enhancing the performance it as it enabled you to view the performance from another angle and therefore change the perspective. There was also a moment where the stage was dimley lit and a monolougue was delived from Antigone. Yet, her face was facing down, making it extremely hard to see. Live feed was then used so you were able to view what was going on on her face but still keeping the effect of the darkness and her positioning on stage. This made that monolougue VERY effective. Although apart from the instance I didn't really understand the point of the live feed when it was used on other occassions. It did make the performance interesting, in terms of how it relates to Antigone I thought that they maybe they just used it for the sake of making the play look nice. In my opinion their was so symbolic meaning or depth as to why it was used, although there may have been yet I didn't pick up on it.

Example of Multimedia in preformance

Review of 'The Waves' in the Natrional Theatre by The Guardian: http://www.theguardian.com/stage/theatreblog/2006/dec/04/wavessetsahighwatermarkfo

Katie Mitchell's extraordinary production of Virginia Woolf's experimental novel The Waves at the National Theatre is that rarely sighted beast, a performance where theatre and video come together so seamlessly and complement each other so exquisitely it is as if Mitchell, her actors and video artist Leo Warner have created an entirely new art form.
Just as Woolf in her 1931 modernist novel was attempting an experiment in form

Image from 'The Waves'

and struggling to bring the novel into the 20th century, so Mitchell - the radical force beating in the heart of the National Theatre - is pushing theatre kicking and screaming into the 21st century. Waves is about the very act of creativity itself, the tools we use to make art and the self we sacrifice to do it, and if it is sometimes painful - well, birth is seldom easy.
Theatre is a medium that - from the introduction of limelight onwards - has often treated any new technology with some suspicion. Today no theatre could operate without its computer assisted light and sound boards, and even the scenery is as likely to be moved by the push of a button as by stage hands - hence the farcical cancellation mid-interval of a performance of Peter Stein's Troilus and Cressida in Edinburgh this summer when the technology broke down and the back wall refused to budge.

Image from 'The Waves'

But if theatre has embraced technology in all its technical applications, it has often been less successful in finding a creative application. In particular when theatre has tried to incorporate film and video into live performance it often gets it horribly wrong, behaving like some giddy old maiden aunt got up in footless tights and a mini skirt who think she is being awfully daring.
With a few exceptions such as Stationhouse Opera's Roadmetal, Sweetbread, Complicite's The Elephant Vanishes or John Tiffany's Black Watch, multimedia is a word I've come to dread in the theatre. There was period around five years ago when you could hardly step inside a theatre to see a new play without encountering a bank of video monitors, and I have endured far too many theatre productions which throw the baby out with the bathwater by mistakenly trying to pander to those Professor Higgins-style whiners who regularly demand to know: "Why can't theatre be more like a film?"

 

 

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In any event, too often video in the theatre is a mere distraction, like trying to hold an intimate conversation in a room where the television is blaring loudly. Your eye is always drawn to the screen rather than to the person talking and everything else swims in and out of focus. Mitchell, however, makes a virtue of this, operating in Waves entirely in the gaps between the live action and the close up, so that you not only see the filmic zoom-in but also actually see how the effect is being created or staged.
It is akin to having an out of body experience. You feel as if you've mistakenly wandered into someone else's head and are drowning in an internal monologue in which the whispered banality of the everyday knocks hard against the deepest unarticulated desires, and the conscious and the unconscious can be simultaneously seen and heard clamouring for attention. A split second later you are in yet another person's head as the multi-stranded, non-linear, non-narrative stream of consciousness unfolds with the fluidity of running water. It feels shockingly intimate and oddly dispassionate, and neither film nor live action alone could come anywhere close to achieving this curious and disconcerting split sensation.
Together, Mitchell and her virtuoso video artist Leo Warner from Fifty Nine Ltd offer a glimpse of how theatre and film can work together in an equal partnership, rather than being rivals for our attention. Until Waves I didn't know that this room was even in theatre's house; Mitchell's achievement is to have made it all her own.

Research On Greek Theatre

Task 1 - Greek Theatre Research

The timeline of Greek Theatre at the National Theatre  

Greek tragedy as we know it was created in Athens around the time of 532 BC. The earliest origins of drama are to be found in Athens where ancient hymns, called dithyrambs, were sung in honor of the god Dionysus, these hymns were later adapted into the chours. The first plays were preformed with one actor and a chours. The actor was called a protagonist. Then a playwright called Aeschylus added a second speaking part which was called the antagonist. His play 'The Persians', first performed in 472 BC, is the oldest surviving of all Greek plays. His pupil, Sophocles went on to add a third actor, while Euripides added both a prologue. Slowly the theatre was starting to develop. According to Ancient Greek sources Thespis was the first person ever to appear on stage as a character instead of somebody speaking as themself. It says that in 534 or 535 BC, Thespis astounded audiences by leaping on to the back of a wooden cart and reciting poetry as if he was the characters whose lines he was reading. In doing so he became the world's first actor, and it is from him that we get the word thespian. There were three main types of Greek plays; Comedy Plays, Tragedy Plays and Satyr Plays.

Comedy Plays

A Greek mask used in theatre

The first comedies were mainly satirical and mocked men in power for their vanity and foolishness. The most famous comedy playwrights were Aristophanes and Menander. Comedy plays usually poked fun at politicians, philosophers, and fellow artists.However this comedic aspect was used to give invaluable insight into Greek society in general and provide details on the workings of political institutions, legal systems, religious practices, education, and warfare in the Hellenic world. Masks were used for comedic effect or to represent a recongnisable character or God. 

Tragedy Plays

Sophocles

Greek tragedy was a popular and influential form of drama performed in theatres across ancient Greece from the late 6th century BC. The most famous playwrights of the genre were Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. Tragedy dealt with the big themes of love, loss, pride, the abuse of power and the fraught relationships between men and gods. Typically the main protagonist of a tragedy commits some terrible crime without realizing how foolish and arrogant he has been. Then, as he slowly realizes his error, the world crumbles around him. The plot of a tragedy was almost always inspired by things from Greek Mythology, which were often a part of Greek religion. The subject of the play often dealt with moral right and wrongs, however no violence was permitted on the stage and the death of a character had to be heard from offstage and not seen. 

Satyr Plays 

These were short plays that were performed between the acts of tragedies and made fun of the plight of the tragedy's characters. The satyrs were mythical half-human, half-goat figures and actors in these plays wore large phalluses for comic effect. Few examples of these plays survived and are sometimes classified by authors as tragicomic, or comedy dramas.

The buildings in which theatre was preformed were called a theatron. These were large, open-air structures constructed on the slopes of hills. They consisted of three main elements: the Orchestra, the Skene, and the Audience.The Orchestra was a large circular or rectangular area at the center part of the theatre, where the play, dance, religious rites, acting used to take place.The Skene was a large rectangular building behind the orchestra, used as a backstage. Actors could change their costumes and masks here. Earlier the skene was a tent or hut, later it became a permanent stone structure. These structures were sometimes painted to serve as backdrops. The theatres were originally built on a very large scale to accommodate the large number of people on stage, as well as the large number of people in the audience, up to fourteen thousand.

Greek Theatres were built on sloping hills in order to get their terraced seating.It was raised so everyone could see what was happening in the Ochestra without fail. The arrangment of the theatre also mean't the acostics were amazing and even the people sitting at the very top could hear. When the Greeks performed their early plays there was likely no scenery. The audience relied on their imaginations to create scenery, which was sometimes described by performers on stage. Sometimes, however, the open-air settings of Greek theaters reflected the location of the play. For instance, audience members watching a play that took place in Athens may have actually viewed the play in an Athens theatre, enjoying the backdrop of the city just behind the actors. However as theatre develop scenic elements started coming into place.
There were several scenic elements commonly used in Greek theatre:

• Mechane: a crane that gave the impression of a flying actor
• Ekkyklema: a wheeled platform often used to bring dead characters into view for the audience
• Trap doors: or similar openings in the ground to lift people onto the stage
• Pinakes: pictures hung to create scenery
• Thyromata: more complex pictures built into the second-level scene (3rd level from ground)
• Phallic: props were used for satyr plays, symbolizing fertility in honour of Dionysus.

The front seats are reserved for the priests, there was a seat of honor that was reserved for the High Priest of Dionysus. Women were not allowed to view or participate in Greek Theatre at all.

Sophocles - 497 – 405 BC

He is one of the most famous and celebrated writers of greek tragedy plays. He wrote around 120 plays including:
- Antigone (442 BCE) which is about a women torn between public and private duties
- Oedipus The King (429 - 420 BCE) which is about a famous king who loved his mother a little too much
- Philocetes (409 BCE), which is on how Odysseus persuades the hero to join the Trojan War
- Oedipus at Colonus (401 BCE) the final part of the trilogy about Oedipus.
- Ajax which is on the hero of the Trojan War and his wounded pride.

Aristophanes - 446 BC - 386 BC
He is one of the most well-known greek comedy playwrights. Some of his work includes:
- The Archarnians (425 BCE) which is about the formation of a peace treaty
- The Knights (424 BCE) based on an attack on Cleon.
- Lysistrata (411 BCE), where women across Greece go on a sex strike to compel their men to make peace.
-The Poet & The Women or Thesmophoriazusae (411 BCE), where women debate the elimination of Euripides
-The Ecclesiazusae (c. 392 BCE) where women take over Athens and make all property communal.

Euripides - 480BC – 406 BC

Euripides was an ancient writer of Greek tragedy, the third of the famous trio(Sophocles and Aeschylus). He wrote about women and mythological themes, like Medea and Helen of Troy. Here are some examples of his work: 
-Alcestis (438 BC) 
-Medea (431 BC)
-Heracclediae (430 BC)
-Hippolytus (428 BC)
- Andromache (425 BC)
- Hecuba (424 BC) 

Aeschylus - 525/4 - 456/55 B.C. 

Aeschylus was the first of the 3 renowned prize-winning Greek writers of tragedy (Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides). Besides writing tragedy, Aeschylus may have performed in his plays. This is considered possible because an attempt was made to murder Aeschylus while he was on stage

Examples of his work are:
-Eumenides, 458 B.C. 
-The Persians, 472 B.C.

-Prometheus Bound,  430 B.C.
-The Seven Against Thebes, 467 B.C.
-The Suppliants, 463 B.C.

This didn't occur very often but sometimes when a performance went badly they would throw rotten vegetables. However, they might throw money if they thought the performance was good. They also stomped their feet to applaud the actors, rather than clap their hands. The actors were so far away from the audience so exaggerated costumes and masks are needed. The masks were made of linen or cork. Marks for tragedies had mournful or pained expressions, while masks for comedies were smiling or leering. The shape of the mask amplified the actor's voice, making his words easier for the audience to hear. In a large open-air theatre masks were able to bring the characters’ face closer to the audience, especially since they had intensely over-exaggerated facial features and expressions.They enabled an actor to play several different roles, thus preventing the audience from identifying the actor to one specific character. Their variations help the audience to distinguish sex, age, and social

status. Unique masks were also created for specific characters and events. The chorus wore masks that created a sense of unity and uniformity, while representing a multi-voiced persona. In terms of costumes, actors who played tragic roles wore boots called cothurneses that elevated them above other actors. However, when playing female roles, the male actors wore a ‘ prosterneda’ which is a wooden structure in front of the chest to imitate breasts. In the early productions actors have been using body painting. Little by little they started using animal skins, ears, even feathers. When the poets introduced real costumes, they used the contemporary dressing of the “chiton” and the “hemateon”. The chiton was made of linen or silk and it was worn long. The hemateon was an exterior cloth, worn over the shoulders. It was usually made of wool. Both chiton and hemateon were decorated depending on the occasion. For theatrical use the clothes have been more decorated than usually.

The structure of greek theatres is perfectly shaped to act as an acoustic filter, suppressing low-frequency sound (the major component of background noise), while passing on the high frequencies of performers' voices. There are some theories that the excellent acoustics might be due to the direction of the wind (which blows mainly from the stage to the audience), or the use of masks acting as loudspeakers. The Epidaurus Theatre is the known to have the best acoustics out of greek theatres.  

Dionysus was the Greek God of fertility, wine and theatre. He is the son of Zeus and Semele, and he was the only Greek God with a mortal parent. The development of greek theatre came out of the worship of Dionysus. There was a major festival where three tragedies and a satyr play (the competitive tetralogies) were performed. This was an important annual event for the Greeks. There was a theatre dedicated to Dionysus called the theatre of Dionysus which was on the south slope of the Athenian acropolis and held room for an audience of 17,000. There were also dramatic contests at the Rural Dionysia and the Lenaia festival. Plays were also performed at the Anthesteria festival, which honored Dionysus as god of wine. The chorus in Greek theatre was a group of actors who described and commented upon the main action of a play with song, dance, and recitation. Greek tragedy had its beginning in choral performances, in which a group of 50 men danced and sang dithyrambs (lyric hymns in praise of the god Dionysus). The purpose was to fill the audience in on background events quickly without having to use lots of scene to shows past events leading up to or in between events acted out in the play. 

Notes on the videos from the National Theatres section on Greek Theatre -

Women in Greek Theatre:

• Women were sometimes seen but definitely not heard. Women were discarded and were treated appallingly compared to the way  men were treated. Yet, Greek plays featured a lot of strong female characters who commanded power and respect. It showed then fighting back and resisting the rules that were in place for them. 
• However, they did recognise how important women were. Women were given credit for the fact they gave birth and organised many of the religious festivals. Tragedies show the tension between the women's importance and the fact they dominate male must keep they under control and subdued. The character of Medea represents this tension in the greek society. 
• Issues in greek society were often raised in theatre as a safe way of discussing and bringing attention to these issues. 
• Writer recognised that the storyline of somebody striking back against power created a griping and emotional story. 

An Introduction to Greek Theatre -

• 30 greek tragedies and 13/14 greek comedies are know to us
• The Festival of Dionysus - massive event. Each play is sponsored by a rich man. Tragedies, comedies and satyr plays competed against each other and at the end a jury judges the best one. If you win your team would be inscribed on the wall of the theatre. Wasn't about monkey, was about glory. 
• Satyr plays - Half man, half goat. They were rude comedy plays. 
• 4 classical greek playwrights. There were 3 tragedians - Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euripides and 1 comic poet - Aristophanes. 
• Wearing masks were a religious ritual - worshiping Dionysus. Also used to change characters. 

Antigone: Religious and Modern Context - 

• Politics were a big factor in Antigone. 
• Antigone believes the Gods are above the law and refuses to follow King Creon's rules as its a law created by man and by the Gods. She would rather dishonour man then go again ancient truths (religious rituals).
• State law V.S Religious law 
• State law V.S Moral law 

References - 
http://www.ancient.eu