Task 1 - Greek Theatre Research
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:
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)
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:
Antigone: Religious and Modern Context -
http://www.ancient.eu
 |
| 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
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| 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
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| 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.
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.
Sophocles - 497 – 405 BC
- 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
-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.
-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.
-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
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.
- 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
http://www.ancient.eu
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