The Ancient Greek Theatre

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 Ancient Greeks, probably one of the most fascinating civilizations to study contributed several discoveries and technological advancements. One can not discuss the Greeks without discussing Greek Theatre though. Greek Theater paved the way for literature and art in later history in many ways. If it wasn't for Greek Theatre famous play writers like Shakespeare would have never done what they are so very well known for. When studying Greek Theatre it is virtually impossible not to hear about it in the 5th Century BCE, and that is because the 5th Century BCE was rather exciting when it came to Greek Theatre.

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)

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

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.

At the back of the ancient Greek theatre stood the ‘skene’. The word ‘skene’ means stage building. The ‘skene’ was a wooden building where the actors could change and this building could also be used for as a house or temple or any other part of scenery (Gill). At the front of the

With the rise of Alexander “The Great” begins the Hellenistic Age which is used to describe a time which Greek culture spread to places like Egypt and Asia. Due to this Greek culture had changed from what it was during Classical Greece as they were able to achieve much more with this new diverse culture. The Classical Age of Greece is known for its work in philosophy and the arts. The work of Greek philosophers of this time such Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle cannot go unnoticed in these contexts as their accomplishments still have lasting effects on our world today. Along with the great work of these philosophers, came other great works in architecture and drama. Beginning in 448 B.C. Pericles began the construction of the Acropolis,

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.

Theater in the early fifth century B.C., had a dual purpose it was a civic and a religious occasion. These early major theater performances typically occurred in “March at the Great Dionysia, which was a citywide celebrations that included sacrifices, prize ceremonies, and spectacular processions which included three days of drama” (Kennedy & Gioia, 2013, p. 942). Sophocles used these festivals to show off his writings skills including winning the competition many times, but he never

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

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.

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

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.

Greek theater can be considered to be one of the building blocks for our theater today. The advancements that the Greeks possessed in the early fifth century were the start of western theater. The Greeks were heavily involved with religion and religious festivals, comedies, tragedies, climatic drama, and took the outdoor amphitheater and made many improvements to its structure.