Ancient Greek Theatre

Theatre was an important aspect of Ancient Greece, as it honoured the gods in a festival called Dionysian. An example of a Greek play is Oedipus Rex, written by Sophocles. Throughout this tragedy, the main character, Oedipus, possesses hubris, which eventually leads to his loss of power and downfall. In Robert Fagles’ translation of Oedipus Rex, powerful dialogue, characters, and motifs demonstrate that excessive pride leads to the protagonist’s tragic downfall.

Greek drama was performed in the late 6th century BCE in ancient Greece. Tragedians like Euripides wrote very influential and popular plays such as the Bacchae. Greek tragedies lead to Greek comedies such as Aristophanes’ Lysistrata. Many of the Greek dramas have similar concepts, one of being duality. Without duality, the nature of our lives and the environment around us remains unbalanced.

Greek tragedies were often influential plays performed throughout Greek society since the late 6th century BCE and are still performed in the present twenty first century on stages all over the world. Early Greek tragedy plays were rarely open to women and the actors were all male, women were played my males wearing famine masks. The performances were in open –air theaters that had very good acoustics that echoed the actors’ voices, eventually megaphones were utilized to amplify the actors’ voices in some costumes. Greek tragedies were often linked to religious beliefs mainly inspired by Greek mythology. Acts of violence was not allowed and the death of characters could only be heard and not seen. Greek tragedies always begin in the middle of events. The audience learned the beginning of the play and the expectations for the future events during the play, this is called En Medias Res- Latin for “in the middle of things”. Actors would sometimes speak to the leader of the chorus. The chorus was normally a group of people who would sing and on some occasions dance. The purpose of the chorus is as follows:

In the 3rd century B.C. a philosopher Aristotle formed what he called the “Six Elements of Drama,” which are thought/theme/ideas, action/plot, characters, language, music, and spectacle. Little did he know that two millennia later, we would use these guidelines in order to evaluate or develop an exquisite play. Twelve Angry Jurors followed these guidelines to pull in their audience and cause them to be attached to characters or intrigued by the plot in such a way only a play of high excellence could. This play was performed in Merrol Hyde Magnet School. Twelve Angry Jurors demonstrates the excellence in the thought/theme/ideas, action/plot, characters, language, music, spectacle also known as the “Six Elements of Drama”

The theatrical genre of comedy was born through a development of the Athenian drama competitions held in honor of the wine god Dionysus. What initially was a religious procession of a singing and chanting chorus, changed into a festival after Thespis introduced a single actor to speak with the chorus. The man responsible for developing this into the new genre of Comedy was probably the last successful tyrant of the previous century, Peisistratos (Hall 10). It is believed that he introduced this new form of entertainment as a way of promoting the glory of Athenian

Throughout the history of Greek Theatre, the ekkyklema is considered as one of the most important devices used in Greek tragedies. Literally, translated to “thing that rolls out” (didaskalia.net), it was presented ‘to the Attic Stage during the 5th century’ and served an important function of displaying dead bodies of fallen characters. The ekkyklema proved to be a crucial component to the stage environment because it ‘provided directors a mean of clarifying the action’ (britannica.com). In Greek theatre, violence was forbidden to be acted out, so directors needed to create a new medium in which the act of killing could be implied. With the help of the ekkyklema, scenes that included death could now be carried out with ease.

When considering ancient Greek life, theater was massively important. This is apparent by the Theater of Dionysius’ placement in the city state of Athens, with its close proximity to the Acropolis and the Parthenon. The Acropolis by definition meant the high point of the city state, and was on a plateau. Its raised status highlights its importance, thus radiating that importance onto nearby structures as well. Although the Greeks valued rational and reason, they also valued their emotional side as well. All plays were dedicated to the god of emotion – Dionysius. Much of what we know of the comedic aspects of Hellenic Greek theater productions comes from the plays of the playwright Aristophanes. Aristophanes’ plays express to the

In ancient Greece festivals were mainly held at the Great Dionysia. This was the oldest theatre in Greece and many plays were performed here for example the first performance of Antigone. The patron of the theatre was the God

There were a lot of differences between ancient Greek and modern theatre. For instance, with some basic knowledge of ancient Greek plays, I knew going into reading this that there were no female actors performing plays like Oedipus back when it was first written and performed. Yet, contrary to what I would have thought, writers still wrote in many female characters such as Jocasta, Oedipus’s

Greek drama originally started out as a ritual to honor the god of wine, Dionysus, by the cult of Dionysus. In the ritual, drunk men dressed up in goat-skin would sing and have dialogue in chorus to welcome the leader, the person acting as Dionysus (Sayre 151). In these revel-filled festivals, men dressed as satyrs, companions of Dionysus who are half-man and half-goat, while the women dressed up as maenads, the immortal followers of Dionysus. As the participants become drunk and filled with ecstasy, they “transform” into a different identity from before. Later on this behavior became the satyr play, a form of Greek drama. Tragedy is said to be originated from the Dionysian rites, where the name comes from tragoidos, which means the “goat song” from the satyrs – companions of Dionysus who are half-man and half-goat. This could be in reference to the fact that Dionysus was also the

The Greek amphitheatres were similar in construction to modern theatres, but had their primitive differences. Greek theatres had two main parts: the theatron and the orchestra. The orchestra was a flat, often circular, area in front of the stage where the chorus would dance, and the theatron, which surrounded the orchestra about ⅔ of the way, was where the audience watched the performance. The part of the orchestra not surrounded by the audiences was the skene. The skene is the stage where the lead actors would perform and it consisted of a back wall where they would sometimes paint scenery (Simon 5). The remanence of these primitive worlds is still evident today. Modern theatres still

Though both genres of theatre are closely tied to religion, Greek theatre and medieval drama have different religious motivations that impact the ways in which the theatrical event is utilized. In Greece, theatre was used to entertain or please the Gods, more specifically the God Dionysus, during the most important of the four Athenian festivals: the Great Dionysia. The first known Greek playwrights, such as Thespis and Euripides, were chosen to compete in the festival and submit three tragedies and one satyr play to be performed in front of approximately 15,000 spectators. In classical Greece, theatre was the center of citizenship and society; religious ideologies towards Dionysus were not only realized by performances, but strongly encouraged by the state. For example, if a citizen could not afford to attend the

The Greek used plays to talk about moral and social issues. For example comedies were humorous and mocked or made fun of social issues, people, and custom. The plays were also shown outside. In document 6, there is an excerpt from the play Antigone by Sophocles. The play is considered to be a tragedy, which is a type of drama. Tragedies tell a story about suffering and usually end badly or in disaster. In the play Antigone overstepped Creon’s laws and buried her brother. In the excerpt from document 6 Antigone states, “Nor do I think your orders were so strong that you, a mortal man, could overrun the gods’ unwritten and unfailing laws..” This shows us how the gods’ were very important in Greek life. Antigone believed that Creon’s laws are his and not the gods’. Antigone also believed that Creon was just a mortal man and that she should obey her conscience. Today, we still incorporate our own values and what is important to us into plays. Therefore, this proves how the ancient Greeks have made many contributions in the areas of architecture,art and performing arts to the Western civilization.

Theatre flourished in Greece, particularly in Athens, between c. 550 BC and c. 220 BC. During its beginnings theatrical performances were part of Dionysia, a festival held in honour of the god Dionysus. The plot of the plays was always inspired by Greek mythology, a theme that is still common today. Many modern plays and movies have been directly based on or incorporated elements of Greek mythology or simply mythology in general. Every play had a chorus, though the size and importance of it varied. The

Theatre became important to Greek cultures when it became a part of the festival honoring the god Dionysus (The god of wine and fertility).”( Greek Mythology in Theater by Bruce Tucker October 27, 2016) The theater festival was founded to bring unity among the Attican tribes.( Greek Mythology in Theater by Bruce Tucker October 27, 2016) Athens was the main center of these traditions. Everyone came to sing and dance in hope for a good harvest. At one point, a Greek named Thespis began to sing praises to the god, with others responding, which led to the actor and chorus. During the festival everyone would dance and sing in a circle, in the middle of which was the altar to Dionysus. Over time the festivals started giving thanks to other themes, and eventually had nothing to do with Dionysus or any god, but began to turn into classical Greek plays. (First Ancient History, Oxford University Press 2000 pg.166)