Intro. To Greek Theater

Greek Theater European theater was started by the Greeks. Plays = Tragedies and comedies Tradition first came from choral songs that dealt with the death & return of Dionysus, god of wine & patron of theater. Women could not perform in Greek theaters. Only scenery in plays were sets of rocks & tombs. Thesbis, 1 st playwright & first actor given credit for introducing masks to theater & with giving actors speaking parts; 6 th century BCE hence term thesbian for actors Greek plays = outdoors

Greek Theater Early Greek theaters = open areas in city centers or next to hillsides 1 st Greek theater in Athens was a large simple circle called the “orchestra” (the dancing place). Greek comedy & tragedy flourished in 5 th and 4 th centuries BCE & performances were done before 12,000 or more people. Unless revised later, plays were performed only once & in competition with other plays. Tragedies dealt almost exclusively with stories from the mythic past. Comedies dealt almost exclusively with contemporary figures and problems.

Great Greek Playwrights “Golden Age” of Greek theaters rests on 3 tragedians: Aeschylus ( BCE)—impact on art form of plays; increased # of actors from 1 to 2; involved the chorus more in action; and emphasized dialogue; brought serious & dignified dramatic form (tragedy) into being; wrote over 90 plays, but only 7 survive—Prometheus Bound, Seven Against Thebes, and the Oresteia trilogy— Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, & Eumenides Sophocles (c BCE)—well-educated & accomplished actor; great innovator of Greek drama; 1 st play he defeated Aeschylus in dramatic competition; contributions—added the 3 rd actor; abolished trilogic form & concentrated action into one, more dramatically powerful, play; invented painted scenery; wrote over 120 plays, only 7 survive in their entirety—Antigone, Electra, Oedipus the King (masterpiece), & Oedipus at Colonus

Great Greek Playwrights Euripides ( BCE)—generally ignored by judges of Greek festivals because his free thinking & pacifist views were not popular; compared to Aeschlyus & Sophocles; life not happy & plays reflected grim outlook; he incorporated elements of humor in his plays breaking rigid rules of & making it easier for new forms of drama to develop; other contributions include probing a man’s psyche and introduced the common man to the stage; plays include Medea, The Trojan Women, and Bacchae

Greek Comedies 5 th century BCE great age of comedy Only surviving comedies are written by Aristophones (c BCE) He lived through the deterioration of Athens, the Peloponnesian War, and the fall of Athens to Sparta; plays are marked by wit, invention, & skillful use of the language as well as a satiric view of the politics of the time; 11 of 40 plays survive including The Clouds, The Frogs, The Wasps, and Lysistrata

Greek Contributions: The Stage A stage—performance area—central to theater Greeks stage productions in natural settings—rocky, irregular hillsides Comedies & tragedies performed in open-air amphitheaters with a bank of spectators. Greeks would sit on stone benches and would often watch 4 productions in a row Greek theater had 3 parts—orchestra—chorus sang and danced in a circular area; theatron—horseshoe shaped area for audience; and skene—backdrop Music & dance were part of drama—chorus comes from Greek work meaning to dance; a musician played the aulos or pipe Actor’s use of masks took away need for makeup—they used whole head masks made of stiffened linen, sometimes with megaphones inside

Contrasts: The Theater Then & Now Ancient Greek dramas have influenced Western drama & are still performed today Walden Theatre based in Louisville, KY has produced several Greek plays, including Medea and The Trojan Women.

Aristotle ( BCE) Born at Stagira, in Macedonia, the son of a physician to the royal court At 17, he went to Athens to study at Plato’s Academy; remained there 20 yrs. as student then teacher Undertook 1 st theoretical discussion of acting in the West in his Politics Actors in Greek theater communicated temperament & feeling through speech & stylized gestures whose meaning was clear to spectators Professional performers underwent a regimen of speech training & vocal exercise According to Aristotle, the human voice alone could register passion & delight; he wrote that the most convincing portrayals of distress & anger were produced by performers who truthfully felt those emotions at the moment they expressed them Finding true feeling in the proper place & time on stage was a problem Aristotle addressed less well—he concluded acting was an occupation for the gifted or insane.

Aristotle’s Poetics—Guidelines for Drama A.Tragedy is an imitation of action, both serious & complete. B.There must be a catharsis—instilling fear & pity. C.6 elements of tragedy: 1. Plot—action of play 2. Thought—the emotions & feelings of the characters 3. Characters—inhabitants of the play 4. Diction—speech & dialogue of the characters 5. Song—rhythm of the play 6. Spectacle—technical aspects of the play such as lighting, sound, & props D. The Unities 1. Time—sunup to sundown 2. Place—one location 3. Action

Vocabulary for Greek Theater Character—person portrayed in a drama, novel, or other artistic piece Comedy—play that treats characters & situations in a humorous way; low comedy—physical; high comedy—verbal wit Isolations—control of isolated body parts; ability to control or move one part of the body independently of the rest Literary elements—include story line (plot); character; story organization (beginning, middle, end); plot structures (rising action, turning point, falling action); conflict; suspense; theme; language; style; dialogue; monologue

Vocabulary for Greek Theater Performance elements—acting (character motivation/analysis, empathy); speaking (breath control, vocal expression/inflection, projection, speaking style, diction); and nonverbal expression (gestures, body alignment, facial expression, character blocking, movement) Purposes– the reasons people make art—drama & include: to share the human experience (social change, universal themes, interpretation of ideas & emotions); to pass on tradition & culture (storytelling, folktales, religious ritual, ceremony); for recreation, entertainment, diversion; and as artistic expression (to communicate emotions, ideas, & information through a performance in a theatrical setting for an audience

Vocabulary for Greek Theater Reader’s theater—dramatic presentation in which 2 or more oral readers interpret a characterized script with the aim of stimulating the audience to imaginatively experience the literature Storytelling—the act of telling a story in the oral tradition Technical elements—scenery (set); costumes; props; lights; sound; music; makeup Tragedy—in Greek theater, a play depicting man as a victim of destiny; characteristics of tragedy evolved over time to include any serious play in which man is a victim of fate, character flaw, moral weakness, or social pressure; Aristotle says tragedy is to arouse pity & fear in audience & purge them at the play’s conclusion (catharsis) Tragic hero—central figure in a tragedy; a tragic hero is a person of basically good character who passes from happiness to misery because of a character flaw or error in judgment