1. Ancient Greek

2. 5th Century Greece, where Western Theatre was born.
Greek Theatre:
5th Century Greece, where Western Theatre was born.
Most important city-state was Athens.
Origins of Theatre:
Religious ceremonies
Funeral services
Festivals celebrating the seasons

3. City Dionysus Dionysus Greek God of wine, fertility and revelry
City Dionysus was the festival to honor him. Believed that what we call modern theatre originated at this ceremony, specifically the dithyrambic choruses.

4. Dithyramb – a lengthy hymn sung and danced by a group of fifty men.
Vocabulary
Dithyramb – a lengthy hymn sung and danced by a group of fifty men.
Leader of the chorus recited or sang an improvised story while the other members sang a popular refrain.
By 600 BC, the dithyramb became a literary form, detailing heroic stories.

5. Thespis The first actor
In the 6th Century BC he stepped out of the dithyramb chorus and becoming an actor.
Delivered a prologue and presented dialogue that required him to impersonate a character: thus a purely narrative or storyline from becoming a dramatic form in which characters exchanged lines.
Ancient Greek word for “actor” was hypokrite – literally “answerer” – underscoring the fact that drama required the verbal give and take of dialogue.

6. Theatre and Greek Religion
In the city’s annual festivals were held in honor of the gods, who they did not regard as all powerful, but who they did feel would guide and protect them.
Theatre became a central feature of certain religious festivals, and theatrical presentations were both religious events and entertainment. Partly because of these religious connections people of all social classes attended theatrical performances.

7. City Dionysia

8. In 534 BC, tragedy was incorporated into festival.
By 486 BC two other forms of drama – comedy and the satyr play – had been added.

9. Greek Tragedy

10. Greek Tragedy
Crisis Drama:
the action begins near the climax, or high point, of the story, with the characters already in the midst of their struggles.

11. Greek Tragedy Very few characters, only three actors. One played main
Crisis Drama:
the action begins near the climax, or high point, of the story, with the characters already in the midst of their struggles.
Very few characters, only three actors. One played main
character, other two played all others. No more than 3 characters
on stage at any one time

12. Greek Tragedy
Crisis Drama:
the action begins near the climax, or high point, of the story, with the characters already in the midst of their struggles.
Very few characters, only three actors. One played main character, other two
played all others. No more than 3 characters on stage at any one time
Play occurs within a short span of time, frequently 24 hours or less and usually takes place in one location. the audience is provided with a great deal of background information, usually by the chorus, known as exposition.

13. Vocabulary
Dithyramb – a lengthy hymn sung and danced by a group of fifty men.
Exposition – Background information that the audience needs to
know to understand the action of the play

14. Greek Tragedy
Crisis Drama:
the action begins near the climax, or high point, of the story, with the characters already in the midst of their struggles.
Very few characters, only three actors. One played main character, other two
played all others. No more than 3 characters on stage at any one time
Play occurs within a short span of time, frequently 24 hours or less and usually takes place in one location. the audience is provided with a great deal of background information, usually by the chorus, known as exposition.
Story focused on someone high in society (king, wealty person, ect) who falls from grace

15. Satyr Plays
Satyr play was a comical play involving a chorus of satyrs, mythological creatures who were half-goat and half-man.
Was structured like a Greek Tragedy but parodied the mythological and heroic tales that were treated seriously in tragedies.
The only complete sayter pay still in existence is the Cyclops by Euripides.

16. Old Comedy
Makes fun of society, politics, or culture and frequently it’s characters are recognizable contemporary personalities.

17. The Chorus
The chorus provide expositor information, commented on the action, interacted with other characters, and described offstage action.

18. The Chorus
The chorus provide expositor information, commented on the action, interacted with other characters, and described offstage action.
In tragedy, the chorus often represented the common people of the city-state rules by the tragic hero or heroine (someone the audience members could relate to). In Old Comedy the chorus was frequently fantastical; for example in the Birds and the Frogs they appeared as birds and frogs.

19. Greek Playwrights

20. Aeschylus

21. Aeschylus
Considered the father of Greek drama (and therefore of all western drama).

22. Aeschylus
Considered the father of Greek drama (and therefore of all western drama).
First to develop drama into a form separate from singing, dancing, or storytelling.

23. Aeschylus
Considered the father of Greek drama (and therefore of all western drama).
First to develop drama into a form separate from singing, dancing, or storytelling.
Added a second actor (allowed for true dialogue between actors), and reduced the size of the chorus.

24. Aeschylus
Considered the father of Greek drama (and therefore of all western drama).
First to develop drama into a form separate from singing, dancing, or storytelling.
Added a second actor (allowed for true dialogue between actors), and reduced the size of the chorus.
Fonder of theatrical spectacle and is sometimes credited with having developed new forms of stage scenery, painted scenery, and elaborate costumes.

25. Aeschylus
Considered the father of Greek drama (and therefore of all western drama).
First to develop drama into a form separate from singing, dancing, or storytelling.
Added a second actor (allowed for true dialogue between actors), and reduced the size of the chorus.
Founder of theatrical spectacle and is sometimes credited with having developed new forms of stage scenery, painted scenery, and elaborate costumes.
Believed to have written ninety plays, the titles of seventy-nine are known, indicating a diversity of subject matter. However only seven of his plays still exist.

26. Agamemnon by
Aeschylus

27. Sophocles

28. Sophocles
Developed Aeschylus dramatic techniques even further. Noted for his superb plot construction.

29. Sophocles
Developed Aeschylus dramatic techniques even further. Noted for his superb plot construction.
Philosopher Aristotle used Sophocles’ King Oedipus as the model for his own analysis of tragedy.

30. Sophocles
Developed Aeschylus dramatic techniques even further. Noted for his superb plot construction.
Philosopher Aristotle used Sophocles’ King Oedipus as the model for his own analysis of tragedy.
Exploration of character and focus on the individual

31. Sophocles
Developed Aeschylus dramatic techniques even further. Noted for his superb plot construction.
Philosopher Aristotle used Sophocles’ King Oedipus as the model for his own analysis of tragedy.
Exploration of character and focus on the individual
Increased the tragic chorus from twelve to fifteen members and is credited with introducing a third actor.

32. Sophocles
Developed Aeschylus dramatic techniques even further. Noted for his superb plot construction.
Philosopher Aristotle used Sophocles’ King Oedipus as the model for his own analysis of tragedy.
Exploration of character and focus on the individual
Increased the tragic chorus from twelve to fifteen members and is credited with introducing a third actor.
Told stories as single dramas instead of extending them into the traditional trilogy of three connected plays; this changed added more action into the plot.

33. Sophocles
Developed Aeschylus dramatic techniques even further. Noted for his superb plot construction.
Philosopher Aristotle used Sophocles’ King Oedipus as the model for his own analysis of tragedy.
Exploration of character and focus on the individual
Increased the tragic chorus from twelve to fifteen members and is credited with introducing a third actor.
Told stories as single dramas instead of extending them into the traditional trilogy of three connected plays; this changed added more action into the plot.
Wrote over 120 plays, only seven complete tragedies have survived

34. The Oedipus Cycle by
Sophocles

35. Oedipus Rex or Oedipus the Kingby
Sophocles

36. Oedipus at Colonus by
Sophocles

37. Antigone by
Sophocles

38. Euripides

39. Euripides
Considered the most “modern” of the three great tragic playwrights.

40. Euripides
Considered the most “modern” of the three great tragic playwrights.
Known for his sympathetic portrayal of women, his mixture of tragedy with melodrama and comedy, and his skeptical treatment of the Gods.

41. Euripides
Considered the most “modern” of the three great tragic playwrights.
Known for his sympathetic portrayal of women, his mixture of tragedy with melodrama and comedy, and his skeptical treatment of the Gods.
His characters behaved as people do in everyday life, and such realism was not considered appropriate for tragedy.

42. Euripides
Considered the most “modern” of the three great tragic playwrights.
Known for his sympathetic portrayal of women, his mixture of tragedy with melodrama and comedy, and his skeptical treatment of the Gods.
His characters behaved as people do in everyday life, and such realism was not considered appropriate for tragedy.
Controversial because of his plots, his diminished use of the chorus and their sensational subject matter. Most of all for his portrayal of the gods as human and fallible.

43. Euripides
Considered the most “modern” of the three great tragic playwrights.
Known for his sympathetic portrayal of women, his mixture of tragedy with melodrama and comedy, and his skeptical treatment of the Gods.
His characters behaved as people do in everyday life, and such realism was not considered appropriate for tragedy.
Controversial because of his plots, his diminished use of the chorus and their sensational subject matter. Most of all for his portrayal of the gods as human and fallible.
Eighteen of his plays still exist, most notably Medea and the Trojan Woman

44. Medea by
Euripides

45. Aristophanes

46. Aristophanes
Best known comic playwright of the Greek golden age.

47. Aristophanes Best known comic playwright of the Greek golden age.
Plays reflect the social and political climate in Athens as it declined in power toward the end of the fifth century.

48. Aristophanes Best known comic playwright of the Greek golden age.
Plays reflect the social and political climate in Athens as it declined in power toward the end of the fifth century.
Plays are full of bawdy wit

49. Aristophanes Most famous works are Lysistrata and the Frogs
Best known comic playwright of the Greek golden age.
Plays reflect the social and political climate in Athens as it declined in power toward the end of the fifth century.
Plays are full of bawdy wit
Most famous works are Lysistrata and the Frogs

50. Lysistrata by
Aristophanes

51. Theatre Building

52. Theatre Building
Probably accommodated 15,000 to 17,000 spectators

53. Theatre Building
Theatres where outdoor amphitheaters, used natural lighting.

54. Three Parts of a Greek Theatre

55. Three Parts of a Greek Theatre
Theatron: Literally “viewing place” which was the seating area for the audience

56. Three Parts of a Greek Theatre
2. Orchestra: playing area for the actors.
-First permanent structural element in the Greek theatre. A circle about 66 feet in diameter, paved in stone.

57. Three Parts of a Greek Theatre
3. Skene: or scene building.
Believed that the skene was used as the basic setting for all plays after 458 BC.

58. Three Parts of a Greek Theatre
3. Skene: or scene building.
Believed that the skene was used as the basic setting for all plays after 458 BC.
Sense the most popular setting was a palace the skene was molded as one. There were doorways, probably three, for entrances and exits.

59. Stage Devices of Greek Theatre

60. Stage Devices of Greek Theatre
Periaktoi

61. Stage Devices of Greek Theatre
Periaktoi
Three painted flats hinged together, each showing different scene, rotating these flats would reveal one new scene to the audience while hiding the other two.

62. Stage Devices of Greek Theatre
Ekkyklema

63. Stage Devices of Greek Theatre
Ekkyklema
Wagon that would be wheeled from behind the skene. A character who died offstage would be laid out on the ekkyklema, which would be rolled out from behind the scenes into full view of the audience.

64. Stage Devices of Greek Theatre
Mechane

65. Stage Devices of Greek Theatre
Mechane
Crane hidden behind the upper level of the skene, was used to effect the entrance of the actor paying the god or goddess in such a way to suggest a descent from the heavens

66. Mechane Hence the term deus ex machine or “God from the Machine”
Stage Devices of Greek Theatre
Mechane
Crane hidden behind the upper level of the skene, was used to effect the entrance of the actor playing the god or goddess in such a way to suggest a descent from the heavens
Hence the term deus ex machine or
“God from the Machine”

67. Aristotle and the Tragic Form

68. Aristotle and the Tragic Form
The philosopher Aristotle was the first critic who tried to pinpoint the characteristics of the Greek Tragedies.

69. Aristotle and the Tragic Form
The philosopher Aristotle was the first critic who tried to pinpoint the characteristics of the Greek Tragedies.
Wrote the Poetics, his thesis on the status of Greek drama, wherein he detailed and ranked the six element of drama.

70. Plot. Aristotle and the Tragic Form
The philosopher Aristotle was the first critic who tried to pinpoint the characteristics of the Greek Tragedies.
Wrote the Poetics, his thesis on the status of Greek drama, wherein he detailed and ranked the six element of drama.
Plot.

71. Aristotle and the Tragic Form
The philosopher Aristotle was the first critic who tried to pinpoint the characteristics of the Greek Tragedies.
Wrote the Poetics, his thesis on the status of Greek drama, wherein he detailed and ranked the six element of drama.
Plot - the arrangement of dramatic incidents.
2. Characters.

72. 3. Theme Aristotle and the Tragic Form
The philosopher Aristotle was the first critic who tried to pinpoint the characteristics of the Greek Tragedies.
Wrote the Poetics, his thesis on the status of Greek drama, wherein he detailed and ranked the six element of drama.
Plot - the arrangement of dramatic incidents.
2. Characters – the people represented in the play.
3. Theme

73. Aristotle and the Tragic Form
The philosopher Aristotle was the first critic who tried to pinpoint the characteristics of the Greek Tragedies.
Wrote the Poetics, his thesis on the status of Greek drama, wherein he detailed and ranked the six element of drama.
Plot - the arrangement of dramatic incidents.
2. Characters – the people represented in the play.
3. Thought or theme – the ideas explored
4. Language

74. Aristotle and the Tragic Form
The philosopher Aristotle was the first critic who tried to pinpoint the characteristics of the Greek Tragedies.
Wrote the Poetics, his thesis on the status of Greek drama, wherein he detailed and ranked the six element of drama.
Plot - the arrangement of dramatic incidents.
2. Characters – the people represented in the play.
3. Thought or theme – the ideas explored
4. Language – the dialogue and poetry
5. Music

75. Aristotle and the Tragic Form
The philosopher Aristotle was the first critic who tried to pinpoint the characteristics of the Greek Tragedies.
Wrote the Poetics, his thesis on the status of Greek drama, wherein he detailed and ranked the six element of drama.
Plot - the arrangement of dramatic incidents.
2. Characters – the people represented in the play.
3. Thought or theme – the ideas explored
4. Language – the dialogue and poetry
5. Music
6. Spectacle

76. Aristotle and the Tragic Form
The philosopher Aristotle was the first critic who tried to pinpoint the characteristics of the Greek Tragedies.
Wrote the Poetics, his thesis on the status of Greek drama, wherein he detailed and ranked the six element of drama.
Plot - the arrangement of dramatic incidents.
2. Characters – the people represented in the play.
3. Thought or theme – the ideas explored
4. Language – the dialogue and poetry
5. Music
6. Spectacle – scenery and other visual elements
Aristotle says that tragedy produces the emotions of pity and fear but that there is a catharsis of these emotions.

77. Vocabulary Catharsis - a purging of the emotions
Dithyramb – a lengthy hymn sung and danced by a group of fifty men.
Exposition – Background information that the audience needs to
know to understand the action of the play
Catharsis - a purging of the emotions

78. New Comedy

79. New Comedy
New Comedy was a subtle comedy of manners and well-wrought intrigue which focused on domestic –family- situations and life in the cities.

80. New Comedy
New Comedy was a subtle comedy of manners and well-wrought intrigue which focused on domestic –family- situations and life in the cities.
New Comedy was more realistic.

81. New Comedy
New Comedy was a subtle comedy of manners and well-wrought intrigue which focused on domestic –family- situations and life in the cities.
New Comedy was more realistic.
A romantic plot can be summarized as boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl. A domineering parent usually comes between the young lovers and the romantic complications are resolved by sudden dramatic coincidences and discoveries

82. New Comedy
New Comedy was a subtle comedy of manners and well-wrought intrigue which focused on domestic –family- situations and life in the cities.
New Comedy was more realistic.
A romantic plot can be summarized as boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl. A domineering parent usually comes between the young lovers and the romantic complications are resolved by sudden dramatic coincidences and discoveries.
Characters are stock types such as domineering parent, romantic young lovers, comic servants.