theater history western greek

8/14/2019 Theater History Western Greek

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Theatre History

Western Theater:Greece

Created By:Christian Rios


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Brief Background Info:

The majority of

Ancient Greek

theatrical texts have

not survived intact.

Flourished in ancient

Greece between c.

550 and c. 220 BC.


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The Three Dramatic

Genres:

1. Comedy (c. 486 BC): is divided into 3periods:

- Old Comedy: survives today largely in the form

of the eleven surviving plays ofAristophanes.

- Middle Comedy: mostly lost, preserved in short

fragments in authors such as Athenaeus of

Naucratis.- New Comedy: known primarily from the

substantial papyrus fragments ofMenander.


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2. Tragedy (6th Century BC): is based on

human suffering that offers its audiencepleasure.

-Greek literature boasts three writers of tragedy: Aeschylus,Euripides, and Sophocles.

3. Satyr: a form of tragicomedy, similar tothe modern-day burlesque style.-They always featured a chorus of satyrs and were based in

Greek mythology.


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Cont

The tragic & sartyrplays were performed at thefestival where they were part of a series of fourperformances -a "tetralogy.

- The 1st , 2nd and 3rd plays were a dramatic trilogybased on mythological events.

- The 4th performance was a satyr.

Performances lasted several hours and were heldduring daytime.


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The Fantastic Four:

Aeschylus

Sophocles

Euripides

Aristophanes

Are regarded as the

most influential bycritics of subsequenteras includingAristotle.


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Staging:

The dramas rarely had

more than three actors.

All actors were male.

Dramas were staged onlyonce, at the drama

contest.

The plays had a chorus of

up to fifty people, who

performed the plays in

verse accompanied by

music.


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Theater Architecture:


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The performance space was a semi-circular

space.

The orchestra space was where the chorusdanced and sang.

Theater was situated on a flattened terrace at

the foot of a hill, the slope of which produced anatural theatron, literally "watching place".

Later, the term "theatre" came to be applied to thewhole area of theatron, orchestra, and sken.


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The theatres were originally built on a largescale to accommodate the large number ofpeople on stage AND the large number ofpeople in the audience (up to 14,000).

Mathematics played a large role in theconstruction of these theatres- their designershad to be able to create acoustics in them sothat the actors' voices could be heard throughoutthe theatre.

The first seats in Greek theatres (other thansitting on the ground) were wooden. Around 499BC the practice of inlaying stone blocks into theside of the hill to create permanent, thus, stableseating became more common.


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Scenic Elements:

In 465 BC, playwrights began using a backdropor scenic wall, which hung or stood behind theorchestra, which also served as an area whereactors could change their costumes.

The death of a character was always heardbehind the skene- it was consideredinappropriate to show a killing in view of theaudience.


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Link to Todays Proscenium:

In 425 BC a stone scene wall(paraskenia), became acommon supplement to skenesin the theatres. It was a longwall with projecting sides, whichmay have had doorways for

entrances and exits.

Just behind the paraskenia wasthe proskenion. The proskenion("in front of the scene") wascolumned, and was similar tothe modern day proscenium.Today's proscenium is whatseparates the audience fromthe stage.


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Effects:

machina, a crane that gave the impression of a flying actor(thus, deus ex machina).

ekkyklema, a wheeled wagon used to bring dead charactersinto view for the audience

trap doors, or similar openings in the ground to lift peopleonto the stage

Pinakes, pictures hung into the scene to show a scene'sscenery

Thyromata, more complex pictures built into the second-level

scene (3rd level from ground) Phallic props were used for satyr plays, symbolizing fertility in

honor of Dionysus.


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Costumes:

This made them seem larger,so the audience

could see them betterthroughout the entire

Amphitheatre: The actors wore very

colorful & large masks.

The masks did not amplifythe actors voice.

They also wore thick,padded clothing, and shoeswith thick soles.


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Masks:

The Greek term for mask ispersona and was a

significant element in the worship ofDionysus in

Athens.

One of the iconic conventions of classicalGreek theatre.

No physical evidence remains available to us, as the

masks were made of organic materials and not

considered permanent objects, ultimately beingdedicated to the altar ofDionysus after performances.


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Mask Details:

Helmet-like, covering the entire face & head, holes for the eyes, a smallaperture for the mouth,& an integrated wig.

The masks were most likely made out of light weight, organic materialslike stiffened linen, leather, wood, or cork, with the wig consisting of

human or animal hair.

The mouth opening was relatively small, preventing the mouth to beseen during performances.

In a large open-air theatre, like the Theatre ofDionysus in Athens, the classical masks wereable to bring the characters' face closer to the

audience, especially since they had intensely over-exaggerated facial features and expressions.


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Actors:

All male. 3-Actor rule (besides chorus).

Multiple-Role Playing.

Performance in ancient Greece did not distinguish themasked actor from the theatrical character.

They enabled an actor to appear and reappear in severaldifferent roles, thus preventing the audience fromidentifying the actor to one specific character. Theirvariations help the audience to distinguish sex, age, andsocial status, in addition to revealing a change in aparticular characters appearance.

Mask was to melt into the face to allow the actor to vanishinto the role.


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Works Sited:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theater_history

http://www.whitman.edu/theatre/theatretour/home.htm

http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/ClasDram/chapters/061gkthea.htm

http://home.wxs.nl/~brouw724/hfdst1En.html

http://www.chemistrydaily.com/chemistry/Aristotle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theater_historyhttp://www.whitman.edu/theatre/theatretour/home.htmhttp://www.usu.edu/markdamen/ClasDram/chapters/061gkthea.htmhttp://home.wxs.nl/~brouw724/hfdst1En.htmlhttp://www.chemistrydaily.com/chemistry/Aristotlehttp://www.chemistrydaily.com/chemistry/Aristotlehttp://home.wxs.nl/~brouw724/hfdst1En.htmlhttp://www.usu.edu/markdamen/ClasDram/chapters/061gkthea.htmhttp://www.whitman.edu/theatre/theatretour/home.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theater_history

theater history western greek

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