South Italian “Phlyax” Plays

Slides:

Advertisements

Similar presentations

Greek and Roman Theatre

Advertisements

GREEK THEATRE Considered to be the greatest theatre in history Classic or Golden Age of Greece BC 1. great tragedies 2. architecture 3. government.

Introduction to Greek Theatre. The Purpose Not simply entertainment Linked with sacred rituals and with the Athenian social/political system Plays were.

Approximately: 100 B.C. to 476 A.D..  Greeks  Etruscans  Oscans  The two major influences were the Greeks and the Etruscans.

The Origins of Western Drama

Ancient Greece: The Start of it All

Roman Drama 240 B.C. – 476 A.D.. From Greek to Roman As Rome expanded, they borrowed elements from Greek culture, even their gods Instead of tragedy,

SOPHOCLES OEDIPUS THE KING (OEDIPUS REX) ANTIGONE AP ENGLISH LITERATURE MS. CURTIS The Greek Tragedy.

 Farce – A type of low comedy characterized by slapstick  Sottie – A bawdy burlesque type of theatrical performance  Commedia dell’arte – Theatre type.

Section 1 The Culture of Ancient Greece. The Greeks believed that gods and goddesses controlled nature and shaped their lives. Myths are traditional stories.

GREEK THEATRE. The Opening Night The Greek theatre history began with festivals honoring their gods. A god, Dionysus, was honored with a festival called.

 By 265 BCE, Athens had fallen out of power and the Roman Empire was expanding.  The Romans absorbed much of Greek culture, including its theatre.

Roman Theater: masks. Roman Theater Influences Three major influences on Roman theatre: Greek Drama Etruscan influences – emphasized circus-like elements.

Theatre of The Renaissance ( ). Renaissance = meaning “rebirth”

Script Writing Introduction

Elements of Greek and British Tragedy. Tragedy Definition: an event causing great suffering Description: a play dealing with tragic events, often having.

Greek Drama. Origin of Tragedy Religious festivals in honor of Dionysus Greek tragedy originated in religious festivals in honor of Dionysus, the god.

The Renaissance and Elizabethan Theatre. The Early Renaissance The arts became an essential part of learning and literary culture. The arts became an.

Italian Renaissance. Began with devotional songs called laudi based on the four Gospels. Sacre rappresentazioni, religious dramas similar to the mystery.

Ancient Theatre c.550- c.220 BC.

+ For Western civilization, the origins of theatre were in Athens, Greece about 25 hundred years ago + Theatre for the Greeks originated from religious.

Roman Theatre The Swaggering Soldier by Plautus.

ROMAN LAUGHTER. Comedy in Italy 6 th - 5 th century BCE EPICHARMUS a Sicilian writer of comedy 4th-3rd century Attic style comedy Native forms of entertainment.

The Playwrights and Plays The University Wits (Pre-Shakespearean playwrights) with the rise in public theatres, companies needed new plays the companies.

Introduction to Old Comedy February 4, Origins of Comedy  is a company of men singing in a festive manner Markers from 4th century show City.

Renaissance Theatre History. Renaissance Drama (1500 – 1700 CE) Renaissance means rebirth of classical knowledge.

ORIGINS OF THEATRE THEATRE I. GREEK TRAGEDY The Greek tragedy started in the form of dithyrambs. Dithyrambs: choral hymns to the god Dionysus Thespis.

GREEK THEATRE & MEDEA MAINSTAGE. GREEK TRAGEDY The Greek tragedy started in the form of dithyrambs. Dithyrambs: choral hymns to the god Dionysus Thespis.

ROME VS. GREECE Which civilization is more advanced?

Approximately: 100 B.C. to 476 A.D..  The Greeks were already established in southern Italy. Because Rome and Greece were so close together, Greece was.

Varieties of Drama Chapter 6. tragedy pathos hamartia catharsis.

William Shakespeare “All the world’s a stage…”. Shakespeare Most famous writer in the world, but he left us no journals or letters – We do not know very.

Introduction to Drama Dr M. Fahmy Raiyah. What is drama? Drama is a type of literature telling a story, which is intended to be performed to an audience.

DIONYSUS  GOD OF WINE AND GROWTH. IT IS SAID THAT DIONYSUS DIED IN THE WINTER AND CAME BACK TO LIFE IN THE SPRING. BECAUSE OF THIS BELIEF THE NAME DIONYSUS.

Oedipus the king Unit notes Mr. perry. Modern Day Theaters…

Greek Theater History and Origins of Theater. Origins of Theater There is evidence in every culture and every historical period that people have used.

Mrs. Abbott Drama Theater Production

Outline: to define “theatre” as a notion; to follow the history of the theatre development; “components” of theatre.

Introduction to Greek Theatre

Ancient Theatre: Greek and Roman

1 English Theatre to 1642 (Early Tudor Drama)

His life, his theater, and his works

Classical Greek Drama OR Really Old Plays.

˙Claudia Chao ˙Betty Chen ˙Kailin Doucette Theatre I Period 6

1 Italian Theatre to 1700 (Commedia dell’Arte)

Question: What walks on four feet in the morning, two in the afternoon and three at night? Answer? MAN.

Introduction to Antigone:

ELEMENTS OF DRAMA.

Roman Drama 240 B.C. – 476 A.D..

Cult of Dionysus Maenad Satyr Dionysus.

ROMAN COMEDY ORIGINS.

ALL ABOUT THE GREEK THEATRE

Greek Theatre Rites & Rituals.

Western Civilization Greek Theater.

Humanities I Mrs. Cave-Mattie

1 Theatre and Drama in Ancient Greece (Tragedy in the 5th Century)

Antigone by Sophocles.

ELEMENTS OF DRAMA.

Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Theatre (New Comedy)

Ancient Theatre Genres & Authors.

Hellenistic, Roman, and Byzantine Theatre (Greek Mimes)

It’s All Greek to Me Greek Theatre. Origins of Theatre By 600BC, many ancient Greeks practiced the rites of Dionysus, rituals honoring the god of fertility.

Presentation transcript:

South Italian “Phlyax” Plays Sean McGrath

Tarentum Paestum Magna Graecia Syracuse

The Phlyakes Plays: hilarotragoedia: “exhibition of the subjects of tragedy, in the spirit and style of comedy” tradition among the Greeks of Southern Italy also known as φλυακογραφία, (Smith) 5th-3rd centuries, especially 425-325 B.C. (Taplin 1) φλύαξ, ακος, ο. = jester; tragic burlesque. “φλυακές τραγικοί” (φλυαρέω = to talk nonsense, play the fool) (LSJ)

Aspects and Themes comic effect, parody of tragedy, traditional myths, & daily life gods and heroes (e.g. Hercules), tragic characters (e.g. Aegisthus, Antigones) the Trojan cycle, thieves, boxers, lovers, stock characters: greedy old miser, mischievous slaves, etc.

Issues of Interpretation Were these simply improvisations containing themes and characters from history and mythology, or actual scenes from specific Attic comedies? Or a mixture of both? The Phlyakes Vases: several hundred found in Southern Italy depicting memorable theatrical scenes with absurdly grotesque costumes on simple wooden stages A.D. Trendall, Margarete Bieber, and other scholars traditionally interpreted these as a totally native Italian tradition; recently, Oliver Taplin has connected them with Greek Old Comedy; in turn, H.A. Shapiro and Dwora Gilula have challenged Taplin’s analyses

Choregos Vase, Apulian Bell Krater, 400-380 B.C.

Hercules angers Apollo, 400-325 B.C.

Hercules abducts a woman from a shrine

Zeus visits Alcmene

Servants helping Cheiron up steps

Priam and Neoptolemus

Rape of Cassandra (not a phlyax vase)

Rape by Cassandra

Old miser Charinus with thieves and slave

Father and son fight over a woman -theme of old father competing with young son for a woman—precursor to Plautus Father and son fight over a woman

Dionysus and phlyakes watching a female tumbler Dionysus and phlyakes watching a female tumbler. Paestan vase attributed to Assteas

Slave Xanthias stealing pastries -Xanthias is the typical slave name Slave Xanthias stealing pastries

Taras/Tarentum

Phlyax vase with farmer, clerk, and learned lady

Phlyax vase with farmer, clerk, and learned lady, c. 400-325 B.C. “Sappho” fresco, Pompeii, c. 50 A.D.

Caricature of two boxers Costumes Caricature of two boxers

Masks Cup in the shape of a comic mask Terracotta representing an actor seated on an altar

Temporary stage buildings Digital Visualization of Phlyax stage, King’s Visualization Lab, Kings College, London

Digital Visualization of Phlyax stage, King’s Visualization Lab, Kings College, London

Influence on the Development of Roman Drama: Rhinthon of Syracuse (c. 323-285 B.C.): first to put phlyax plays/hilarotragoedia into written form followed by Sopater, Sciras, Blaesus (Smith) As the phlyakes died out in the late 4th century, the Oscans developed a form of satire and parody that came to be known as Atellan farce. This was brought to Rome, and played a part in the beginning of Roman comedy (i.e. Plautus)

Influence on the Development of Roman Drama (cont.): According to Richard Beacham, the “early Roman entertainments were characterized by satirical abuse, expressed in uninhibited jesting and crude verse… The performances were essentially plotless, comic ‘turns,’ which probably took shape in response to a good deal of audience comment and encouragement.” (Beacham 13) No evidence suggests that the phlyakes had a direct impact on the early Roman entertainments, but considering the shared themes and comic elements (slave beatings, shrewish old women, father and son fighting over a woman, greedy slaves, greedy old men, etc.) a connection is entirely plausible (Beacham 9)

Bibliography Beacham, Richard. The Roman Theatre and its Audience. London: Routledge, 1991. Bieber, Margarete. The History of the Greek and Roman Theater. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961. Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott, Henry Stuart Jones, and Roderick McKenzie, eds. A Greek-English Lexicon. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. McDonald, Marianne and J. Michael Walton, eds. The Cambridge Companion to Greek and Roman Theatre. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007. Smith, William. A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. London: John Murray, 1873. Taplin, Oliver. Comic Angels and Other Approaches to Greek Drama through Vase-Paintings. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993. Trendall, A.D. Phlyax Vases. London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1967.

Images Beacham, Richard. The Roman Theatre and its Audience. London: Routledge, 1991. Bieber, Margarete. The History of the Greek and Roman Theater. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961. http://posting-thoughts.blogspot.com/2011/09/greenes-thesis-in-poetry-as- inovcation.html http://uga-thea4200.wikispaces.com/Required+reading+groups http://www.didaskalia.net/studyarea/visual_resources/greektemp3d.html http://ancienthistory.about.com/od/romeancientrome/ig/Maps-of-Rome-and-the- Empire/Southern-Italy.htm http://library.calvin.edu/hda/node/1101 http://library.calvin.edu/hda/node/1124 http://library.calvin.edu/hda/node/1128 http://www.artstor.com Trendall, A.D. Phlyax Vases. London: Institute of Classical Studies, 1967.