1. Homework Due: today
Read the Introductory Note to the Wasps (page 35-37) (yellow cover)/ Preface to the Wasps (page 3-6) (black cover).
Make notes of the key ideas from this reading.
To be discussed Monday in class:
Find someone with the same colour stick and share your notes with them.
Do they have anything different? If so, record it.
Please ensure you see me with your completed work so I record that it’s done.

2. The Elements of the Greek Theatre

3. The Theatre of Dionysus
Aristophanes’ main theatre of use was the Theatre of Dionysus.
Located in a hollow on the south side of the Acropolis in Athens
It could seat 15,000 people
Diameter was the length of a cricket pitch

6. The Plays Athenians went to plays either in the winter or early spring
- Winter - the Great Dionysia festival
- Spring – Lenaea festival
Some minor festivals took place throughout the year
Performances began at sunrise and went all day without a break
The audience took their own food and a cushion
Seats were wooden
The day began when the priest of Dionysus made a sacrifice on the altar in the middle of the orchestra, then took his place in the special seat reserved for him in the front row
Name of the play was announced by a herald

7. Who Attended? Most of Athenian society was represented
Principal magistrates and priests sat in the front row – especially the Priest of Dionysus
Near them sat politicians and city leaders
Intellectuals, philosophers, landowners, speakers and soldiers also attended
Ordinary citizens attended as it was free
1/3 of the city’s voting population (adult free males)
Debate still rages over whether women, children or slaves were admitted: little evidence supports it, however.

8. The Theatron – ‘Watching Place’
Contained tiers of seats looking down on the dancing circle (orchestra), giving good visibility
Seats arranged in arcs, separated by passages
For ease of access
Stairs radiated out from the centre – these formed wedge-shaped sections
Partly raised on a hill and partly on terraces of earth and rubble contained by supporting walls
Spectators in the back row were 90m from the stage
An actor 2m tall looked 1.8cm high from the back
This explains the need for grotesque masks & exaggerated phalloi (phalluses all male characters wore)
Semi-circular shape gave great acoustics

11. Orchestra – ‘Dancing Circle’
This was the heart of the theatre
The chorus was usually found in the orchestra
Actors in a comedy mingled with the chorus
The orchestra:
Contributes to the size and openness of the theatre
Made of earth inside a circle of squared stone
Was 18m in diameter
Had a 1m altar in the centre (used by priest, but could be a prop)

13. Paradoi (sing: parados)
The parodoi was a walkway used as an entrance path for spectators and the chorus.
Could sometimes be used by actors during the performance
The first entry of the chorus-men, marching or dancing along the walkways into the orchestra, was a spectacular feature of plays
There were always two on either side of the stage

14. Proskenion This was the stage in front of the stage building (skene)
It was probably decorated with pillars
Most likely formed a permanent set
Changes could be made to suit each play’s demands – by painting
A fixed scene could still represent many different buildings.

15. Skene The skene is the ‘stage house’
Located between the dancing circle and the hall and temple beyond
Stone foundations are only 8m long and 3m wide
Probably small because of lack of wood in wartime
Had a strong, flat roof in which scenes could be staged; an actor could turn it into a watchtower, castle wall or (in Philocleon’s case) a tiled roof through which to escape by removing the tiles
access by internal stairs
Usually had large double doors for entrances and two smaller doors and a window on either side
Doors had to be wide to reveal interior scenes with the ekkyklema

17. Theologion / episkenion
This was the roof of the stage house.
Often used by Aristophanes (eg when Philocleon tries to make his escape by breaking out through the tiles)
The place where gods spoke from during plays when they were flown in by the crane to take part in the action
(Theos – god; logos – speech)

18. Stage Machines Mechane (crane) Counterweighted wooden beam
Situated stage right
Could swing sideways and out of sight
Big enough to swing over the skene and out of sight
Had to touch the floor at the orchestra level
Could pick up actors wearing a harness or a basket.

19. Ekkyklema
A large platform on wheels which could be rolled out the main double doors
Used to reveal the action taking place inside the skene (like a large tableau of characters in frozen positions)
Could also be used to portray a boat (eg in Frogs)

20. Create what you’ve learned
Glue the illustration in your book
Draw the layout of a Greek theatre on your desk, using whiteboard markers
Label all of the parts
Add details such as measurement and function