Ancient Greek TheaterAncient Greek Theater

This is where it all began: the Theatre of Dionysus in

Athens.

Introduction to Greek Introduction to Greek TheaterTheater

2500 years ago, 2000 years before Shakespeare, Western theater was born in Athens, Greece. Between 600 and 200 BC, the ancient Athenians created a theater culture whose form, technique and terminology have lasted 2 millennia. They created plays that are still considered among the greatest works of world drama.

Scope of InfluenceScope of InfluenceThe comedy and tragedy that

developed in Athens and flourished in the fifth and fourth centuries BCE have influenced nearly all subsequent Western drama, starting with that of the Romans.

When the Romans conquered Greece they brought Greek literature back to Italy and set about making it their own.

Roman TheaterRoman Theater The Romans, with their love of spectacle, soon

took over the existing theatres in Greece and began renovating and rebuilding them for their own spectacles, which included everything from pantomime (closer to ballet than to the children's 'panto') to mock naval battles. Most of the remains of the theatre of Dionysus which we can see in Athens today date to Roman times and not the fifth century BCE.

The tragedies and comedies of the fifth and fourth centuries BCE that remain to us today were almost all written for performance in the Theatre of Dionysus at Athens. The Theatre of Dionysus was first dug out of the slope beneath the south side of the Acropolis in the late 6th century BCE, possibly while Athens was still under the rule of the Peisistratid dynasty. It was rebuilt and expanded many times, and so it is difficult to tell exactly what its original shape was.

Theater is a ritualistic art form which celebrates the Olympian gods who often appeared as characters.

Dionysus, god of wine and procreation, was honored at the dramatic festivals.

Legendary kings and heroes were often portrayed as well.

Theater and the Theater and the Common ManCommon Man

Business and activities were suspended during the week-long festivals held three times per year.

It was considered a CIVIC DUTY for people to participate in the productions in some way.

The plays were to give a lesson to the people - DIADACTIC PURPOSE

The Physical Structure of the The Physical Structure of the Greek TheaterGreek Theater

Golden Age of Greek Golden Age of Greek TheaterTheater

The most prominent city-state in Greece by 600 BC was Athens where at least 150,000 people lived.

In Athens the rites of Dionysus evolved into what we know today as theater .

Greek Amphitheatres Greek Amphitheatres

The Theater of Dionysus, built at the foot of the Acropolis in Athens, could seat 17,000 people.

During their heyday, the competitions drew as many as 30,000 spectators.

The words theater and amphitheater derive from the Greek word theatron, which referred to the wooden spectator stands erected on the hillsides.

The theatron held benches on which the audience sat. The semi-circular theatron was specifically built in to a hillside to provide good views of the action.

The orchestra was the circular dancing place for the chorus

The parados were two broad aisles which allowed the chorus to enter the theater. Parados is also the term for the entrance song of the chorus.

The skene was a rectangular building with three doors which provided a generic backdrop for entrances and exits of the characters.

The proskenion was a small platform in front of the skene to give actors more visibility to the audience.

The Physical Structure of the Greek Theater

Approx. 15,000 people fit in the Theater of Dionysus in Athens.

No sets, props, etc.

Actors’ lines marked the passage of time and the setting.

Design of theatron was important for acoustics – no microphones.

AmphitheatresAmphitheatres

Artistic replica of the Theater at Dionysus

Current day Theater at Dionysus

Delphi Theater reconstruction and current day ruins

ThespisThespis In about 600 BC Arion

of Corinth wrote down formal lyrics for the dithyramb.

Some time in the next 75 years, Thespis of Attica added an actor who interacted with the chorus.

This one actor was called the protagonist.

Thespis walked around Athens pulling a handcart, setting up a kind of one man plays, where he showed the bad behavior of man. The word for actor, “thespian”, comes from his name.

ThespisThespis The "inventor of

tragedy" was born in Attica, and was the first prize winner at the Great Dionysia in 534 BC.

Thespis was an important innovator for the theater, since he introduced such things as the independent actor (as opposed to the chorus) as well as masks, make up and costumes.

The PlayersThe Players Because Greek tragedy and comedy originated with

the chorus, the most important part of the performance space was the orchestra, which means 'a place for dancing' (orchesis).

A tragic chorus consisted of 12 or 15 dancers (choreuts), who may have been young men just about to enter military service after some years of training.

Athenians were taught to sing and dance from a very early age. The effort of dancing and singing through three tragedies and a satyr play was likened to that of competing in the Olympic Games.

Performance Performance CharacteristicsCharacteristics

Plays were initially held with just the chorus singing/chanting the lines.

In 534 BCE Thespis was credited with creating the first actor (thespians). The character spoke lines as a god.

This begins the concept of DIALOGUE – the character interacts with chorus.

The Role of the ActorThe Role of the Actor Aeschylus – earliest Greek tragedy writer

brought idea of second actor.

Sophocles – brought third actor – no more than three actors on stage ever in a Greek tragedy.

Euripedes – also used three actors after Sophocles.

Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripedes each wrote a version of the Oedipus tragedy, but Sophocles’ version is the most famous.

Actors needed to be LARGER THAN LIFE and thus easy to see.

Size was symbolic of their social status.

Chiton – a long, flowing robe, padded at the shoulders for width, selected in symbolic colors

Cothurni – platform shoes for added height

The Greek ActorThe Greek ActorParticipation is a civic duty; many

volunteered for the chorus.Experienced speakers became actors

(often govt. officials or imp. businessmen)Actors were revered and exempt from

military duty.Women were excluded from acting and

had to sit in the higher seats in the theatron.

MasksMasks The large size of the theatre (in its final form it seated 20,000

people) and the distance of even the nearest spectators from the performers (more than 10 meters) dictated a non-naturalistic approach to acting.

All gestures had to be large and definite so as to 'read' from the back rows. Facial expression would have been invisible to all but the closest members of the audience.

The masks worn by the actors looked more 'natural' than bare faces in the Theatre of Dionysus. The masks of tragedy were of an ordinary, face-fitting size, with wigs attached, and open mouths to allow clear speech.

Contrary to some later theories, there were no 'megaphones' in the masks, and their decoration and expression was quite subtle, as vase paintings from the 5th and 4th centuries attest.

MasksMasks Theatrical masks were made of wood (like the

masks of Japanese Noh drama), leather (like the masks of the Commedia dell' arte, or cloth and flour paste (like many of the masks used at the Carnevale of Venice, and many masks made for modern productions today). Various theories are advanced in favor of each material, but no originals remain, only stone carvings which may have been used as mask-molds and the paintings on pottery.

Declamatory Acting Declamatory Acting StyleStyle

Actors could not move easily, so lines were delivered in a “speech” style.

Broad sweeping gestures.General movements to express

emotions: Bowed head – grief; beating chest – mourning; stretching arms – prayer.

Minor props – scepter – king, spear – warrior, elderly – cane.

Greek Theater MasksGreek Theater Masks

Paradox of the MaskParadox of the Mask

The most distinctive feature of the mask was its ability to limit and broaden at the same time.

It identified a specific character, but it also had generalized features which gave an “Everyman” quality. This allowed the audience to “get” the personal message intended for each member of the audience.

The Skene?The Skene?

The theater of Dionysus in the earliest days of tragedy must have consisted of only the most basic elements.

All that was required was a circular dancing area for the chorus at the base of a gently sloping hill, on which spectators could sit and watch the performance.

On the other side of the orchestra facing the spectators there probably stood a tent in which the actors could change their costumes (one actor would play more than one part).

This is suggested by the word skene which means 'tent', and was used to refer to a wooden wall having doors.

The Skene and SeatingThe Skene and Seating The wall was painted

to represent a palace, temple or whatever setting was required. The wall, which eventually became a full-fledged stage building, probably acquired this name because it replaced the original tent.

The construction of the wooden skene (cf. our theatrical terms "scene" and "scenery") and of a formal seating area consisting of wooden benches on the slope, which had been hollowed out, probably took place some time toward the middle of the fifth century.

Mechanical Stage Mechanical Stage DevicesDevices

One device is the ekkyklema “a wheeled-out thing”, a platform on wheels rolled out through one of the doors of the skene, on which a tableau was displayed representing the result of an action indoors (e.g., a murder) and therefore was unseen by the audience.

The other device is called a mechane “theatrical machine”, a crane to which a cable with a harness for an actor was attached. This device allowed an actor portraying a god or goddess to arrive on scene in the most realistic way possible, from the sky.

Flying Actors?Flying Actors?

The mechane deposited the actor on top of the skene so that he as a deity could address the human characters from an appropriately higher level.

This device was not exclusively limited to use by divine characters, but was employed whenever the plot required any character to fly.

Oedipus Rex Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King)(Oedipus the King)

Written by Sophocles in 430 B.C.E.

Based on a great legend of western culture from Ancient Greece.

Greatest Greek tragedy; drama of extreme tension; one person rules action

Sophocles’ version deals with the discovery of Oedipus’ fate.

Tragedy lies in Oed. learning of his guilty deeds rather than the committing of them.

Shows Oed. at war with himself

Tension lies in the first realization of outcome and his push for full truth and proof.

Free will cannot blame fate.

“Reason is man’s greatest possession and power.” – Sophocles.

Oedipus shows how man’s strength becomes his weakness

Loss of eyesight is symbolic regarding Oed.’s abuse of Teresias, Oed.’s own blindness to his fate, and our blindness to our own calamities.