1. Think about our time period in this class (411 BCE – 1746). What are some historical and cultural reasons you think made some people hate and write against the theater?
People believe in unscientific things such as God and Goddess. The theater, the acting at that time had been tread as lying and which might be the blasphemy. Therefore from church, society, community, and union, actors and play writer had been seen as they against their Gods or create the chaos. Of course not everyone one at that time had the same thought. Some of the ancient people admired theater and accept it; also the writers and actors also thought some good excepting which could make people agree with them and accept theater. For example, they put some religion into
All the performers who would come up on stage were male professional actors, singers, and dancers and some people would help them to represent a vast variety of human and non-human characters by wonderful costumes and highly decorated face masks. The main actors and two other actors performed in all of the speaking parts. Sometimes, a fourth actor could be allowed to perform only if this actor was non-instrumental to the plot. These restrictions were to ensure the equality of the competition and to keep down the costs to the state, which funded the professional actors. The Chorus, costumes, musicians, and rehearsal time were funded by an appointed private citizen, a khorēgos, who was carrying great prestige.
The theatre has been a part of entertainment since ancient Greece, around 4th century BC or thereabouts. The theatre grew out of festivals in honor of the god Dionysus. Aeschylus created the first play in her honor. The first Greek plays were all tragedies but eventually comedy made its way and these plays were performed at festivals all over Greece. Through the centuries theater played the main role of entertainment from noble and royalty to the common person in any city or village, and as we move into the twenties
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)
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.
Ancient Greek culture has influenced our modern culture in many ways from philosophy to medicine to government. We still use many of their concepts, technology, and even alphabet system. Without ancient Greece, our modern world would not have advanced as far. A significant contribution of the ancient Greek culture to the world today is the Greek theater, more specifically the structure of tragedy. Some contributions are the structure of tragedy in modern literature, rise of opera, and the creation of the theater.
Theatre today as in ancient Greek times is a popular form of entertainment. Today’s theatres share many similarities with the Greek predecessors however they are also very different. There are in fact many differences for example; layout, special effects, seating arrangement, the importance of drama and religion, setting, location and architectural features.
“Theatre is the art that shaped the Hellene culture, and that is the single most influential culture that shaped the world (Germal 57)”. The people of ancient Greece, known as the people Hellenes, were responsible for many firsts, theatre being among them. Theatre and other arts flourished in ancient Greece between 550 BCE and 220 BCE. Its geographic influence was momentous, spanning through parts of modern day Italy, Turkey, Egypt, Spain, and France. These productions were showcased and funded by the government, making them accessible to all citizens. This allows for an accurate portrayal of Greek culture due to the large amount of people that experienced it, as it was an integral part of their culture,
Roman theatre initially began in 240 BC when Greek theatre was discovered and translated to Latin, then being brought to Rome. The first drama was held at Ludi Romani, the Roman Festival or the Roman Games. This occurred just before Rome became an empire in 27BC. There were many types of these festivals during a year for all sorts of reasons according to history. Theatre was, and is a diverse art form. It ranged from festival performances, street theatre, and acrobatics to eloquent tragedies.
As living and breathing organisms, we evolve. We evolve mentally, physically, spiritually, and artistically. What is evolution without the former? More times than none, we want to learn from our history to progress and improve. Theatre history not only inspires us, but guides us. We have all of these incredible resources and tools so that theatre can constantly change and grow. Theatre history allows us to see what works and what doesn’t without failing viciously. We are taught how to accurately say something. Art is generally a product of society. So, when there are these incredibly successful pieces of art that were able to affect society and change people’s thinking (i.e. the English Renaissance, the Enlightenment Period, etc.,) we can take note of how they did it and we learn how we can do it. From Marlowe, we learned that you can be an individual and still make a many significant pieces of art. You can even inspire other greats. Most importantly, we learn that there is no wrong way to do theatre. There is Noh Theatre, Comedia Dell’arte, Greek Theatre, Kabuki, The English Renaissance, and so many more types of theatre that were and some that still are extremely successful. If Thespis hadn’t stepped out of the singing men and made a fool of himself, or if Izumo no Okuni hadn’t practiced
The theatre that you are most familiar with today generally comes via the movie version of an originally staged play. But if we go back further, we find that most of the theatre that is written and performed today can be traced back to Greek origins through various
The greek theatre began with the festivals honoring gods. All the actors, dramatists, and directors were the same people. There were not a lot of actors allowed on stage. The chorus became apart of the greek theatre also.
Ancient Greek Theater is the first historical record of “drama,” which is the Greek term meaning “to do” or “to act.” Beginning in the 5th century BC, Greek Theater developed into an art that is still used today. During the golden age of the Athenians plays were created, plays that are considered among the greatest works of world drama. Today there are thousands of well-known plays and films based on the re-make of ancient drama.
This new building type differed in striking ways from the traditional Greek theater. The latter consisted of two separate structures: a horseshoe-shaped seating area and a freestanding stage-building. The Roman theater, in contrast, was a fully enclosed edifice, unroofed but often covered with awnings on performance days. The seating area in the Greek theater was supported against a natural hillside, whereas the Roman theater was carried at least in part on concrete vaults, which provided access from the exterior of the building to the cavea. In the Hellenistic world, the stage-building was a relatively low structure, ornamented with painted panels but rarely with large-scale sculpture.
Many aspects of ancient Greek theaters have long been studied and debated. Much of the information about these theaters is based on speculation due to the fact that so little of them still exist today. This lack of remnants especially applies to the architecture of the early Greek Theaters. However, through archeological finds and years of studying the people, the plays, and the architecture of the time, we are able to make many conclusions about these early structures.
Although the origin of the Greek theater is unclear, many historians believe that it developed out of religious ritual and its performances were connected to religious festivals. The performances were used to educate and entertain. "The theater is certainly not the same as it was in ancient