Greek Theatre

Neanderthals established the earliest rituals - Bears

Masks

Music 50,000 y.a. Drum – 60,000 First instrument with tones was the flute. Both were used for music and communication

Storytelling Origin is unknown Existed before written language Shaman – Telling stories to preserve history, mythology or to reflect important values Accessible to an illiterate majority

Dance Tied to both ritual and entertainment. Dance in India dates back 5000 years Left - Bronze Statue of a Dancer Mohenjo-daro Civilization, 2nd millenium B.C Nataraja -- the cosmic dance of Lord Shiva Ellora, Maharashtra

Dance Before recorded history. Records of dance through other arts Greece and Egypt had dance

Entertainment “Popular Entertainment – Singing, dancing, juggling, acrobatics, sketches, storytelling – Humans like to entertain and be entertained – Sometimes called non-text based theatre – When traditional theatre dies, popular theatre often survives. – What is TV like now? Do we like popular theatre?

First Poems Indian Vedas (1700 – 1200 BCE) Zoroaster’s Gathas (1200 – 900 BCE) Homer’s Odyssey (800 BCE)

Abydos Ritual 2500 – 550 BC Mystery Play Tells the story of Osiris – Married Isis, his sister – His brother Seth was jealous, killed him – Osiris was torn into pieces but resurrected – God of afterlife. Tale is virtually universal Acted out episodes of the story

Classical Greece 510 – 323 BCE Establishment of democracy 510 BCE War with Persia until 449 BCE Death of Alexander the Great 323 BCE

Greek Religion and Rituals Greek Religion Polytheistic – Many Gods Each god controlled different aspects of life Many temples for the different gods Oracles – sacred sites where religious heads could pray and received answers from gods, often through signs in nature. E.g. Zeus and Dodona Rustling of oak trees Sacrifices at the temples Festivals for the gods that included singing, music, dancing, parades and later theatre. Myths – Oedipus and the Sphinx

Dionysus God of wine, fertility and revelry. AKA Bacchus – “mad one” Female followers - Bacchae or Bacchantes – Mad women

Dionysus Rituals Aspects of Dionysian Rituals Oreibasia (“mountain dancing”) dancing that led to trance Sparagmos “tearing to pieces” found small animals and teared them (on vase right) Omophagia (“eating raw flesh”) eating the animals made the worshippers one with Dionysus and nature’s forces

Arion – Early 6 th Century Created or contributed to the dithyramb Made it dramatic by including spoken elements

Dithyramb Long hymn sung and danced by a chorus of 50 men. Competitions developed Developed as a literary form Laid foundation for what became Greek Chorus

Thespis Credited as being the first actor (Thespians) Stepped away from the chorus and performed as a character First writer of tragedy Greek word for actor was hypokrite – “answerer” – showing give and take between actor and chorus

Other theories of origin or Greek Theatre Story telling Story tellers added to dithyramb Aristotle – human desire to imitate – Mimesis – imitation of nature

Public, Private and Religious Event City provided funds for the performance and organized the event as part of religious festival Rich individuals sponsored aspects of production – Choregus Theatre was part of the religious celebrations Theatre was also political – ex. Antigone, Medea, etc.

The Dinagyang is a religious and cultural festival in Iloilo City, Philippines

Mardi Gras and Carnival

Ash Wednesday and Lent

Pompe – Greek Processions

Goddess of religious procession, Pompe with Eros prepare for procession to celebrate Dionysus

City Dionysus Festival starts with Phallika – Still runs at Tyrnavos Phallus Festival

Displayed Weapons

Bull Sacrifices

Komos

Ritualistic drunken progression May have worn Mask and costume No choral leader, script or rehearsal Music All night - May have used torches komos and κωμῳδία - komoidia or "comedy" are etymologically related

Proagon “Preview” Next day playwrights announced their plays Judges chosen by lottery Praise was given to selected citizens and foreigners who had served Athens. Orphaned children from war paraded

Edinburgh Festival / Fringe

City Dionysus lasted several days Couple of days for parades and sacrifices 5 days of Dithyrambs and plays – 2 of 5 – 10 choruses – 1 day for men, 1 for boys 3 days of tragedy and satyr plays by one playwright = tetralogy

Aeschylus-525 – 456 B.C.E “founder of Greek drama” “director” actor and playwright – Possibly wrote 90 plays only 7 exist Credited with developing new stage scenery, painted scenery and elaborate costumes. first to develop drama as an art form separate from singing, dancing and storytelling. Reduced the size of the chorus from 50 to 12. Before Aeschylus – one actor and chorus – Aeschylus added second actor; first true dialogue Roman mosaic of Aeschylus directing actors

Sophocles 496 – 406 BCE Added third actor (so more characters on stage at one time) had a chorus of 15 Strong Plot Construction More than 120 plays,7 survive First prize 18 times, never less than 2 nd; Wrote single dramas instead of trilogies

Euripides c. 480 – 406 BCE 92 plays, 5 survive Believable female characters (Medea) Considered most modern Portrayed gods as human; skeptical treatment

Criticisms of Euripides Mixed tragedy and comedy; model for tragicomedy and melodrama Weak plots Deus ex machina –”god of the machine” Sensational subject matter Very influential on latter playwrights

Comedy added later Possibly five plays on one day added to the five days of the festival. Each play by a different playwright

After the festival Awards for best plays, tragic and comic and for best tragic acting Choregus (producer) of winning play could erect a statue of himself, at his expense. Those who misbehaved were punished. – Fighting over seats – Drunken violence