Everything about Theatre Of Ancient Greece totally explained
The
Greek theatre (
AE theater) or
Greek drama is a
theatrical tradition that flourished in
ancient Greece between c. 550 and c. 220 BC.
Athens, the political and military power in Greece during this era, was the centre of ancient Greek theatre.
Tragedy (late 6th century BC),
comedy (486 BC), and
satyr plays were some of the theatrical forms to emerge in the world. Greek theatre and plays have had a lasting impact on
Western drama and culture.
The
origin of western theatre is to be found in
ancient Greece. It developed from a state
festival in
Athens,
honoring the god
Dionysus. The Athenian
city-state exported the festival to its numerous allies in order to promote a common identity.
Etymology
The word τραγοιδία, from which the English word
tragedy is derived, is a
portmanteau of two
Greek words: τράγος,
the goat, which is akin to "gnaw", and ῳδή meaning
song, from αείδειν,
to sing. This explains the very rare
archaic translation as "goat-men sacrifice song". At the least, it indicates a link with the practices of the ancient Dionysian cults. It is impossible, however, to know with certainty how these fertility rituals became the basis for tragedy and comedy. Also, until the Hellenistic period, all tragedies were unique pieces written in honor of Dionysus, so that today we only have the pieces that were still remembered well enough to have been repeated when repetition of old tragedies became fashion. It was considered a decline of the original, one-time-played tragedy.
Origins
Greek tragedy as we know it was created in Athens some years before
534 BCE, when
Thespis was the earliest recorded author. Being a winner of the first theatrical contest held at Athens, he was the
exarchon, or leader, of the
dithyrambs performed in and around Attica, especially at the rural
Dionysia. By Thespis' time the dithyramb had evolved far away from its cult roots. Under the influence of heroic epic, Doric choral lyric and the innovations of the poet Arion, it had become a narrative, ballad-like genre. Thespis probably aided in the final transition from dithyramb to tragedy by adding characters who speak (rather than sing) with their own voice (rather than a single narrative chorus). Because of these, Thespis is often called the "Father of Tragedy"; however, his importance is disputed, and Thespis is sometimes listed as late as sixteenth in the chronological order of Greek tragedians. For example, the statesman
Solon is credited with creating poems in which characters speak with their own voice, and spoken recitations, known as
rhapsodes, of
Homer's epics were popular in festivals prior to 534 B.C. Thus, Thespis' true contribution to drama is unclear at best, but he's forever immortalized in a common term for performer,
thespian.
The drama performances were important to the Athenians - this is made clear by the creation of a tragedy competition and festival in City
Dionysia. This was organized possibly to foster loyalty among the tribes of Attica (recently created by
Cleisthenes). The festival was created roughly around 508 B.C. While no drama texts exist from the sixth century BC, we do know the names of three competitors besides Thespis: Choerilus, Pratinas, and
Phrynichus. Each is credited with different innovations in the field.
More is known about Phrynichus. He won his first competition between
511 BC and
508 BC. He produced tragedies on themes and subjects later exploited in the golden age such as the
Danaids,
Phoenician Women and
Alcestis. He was the first poet we know of to use a historical subject - his
Fall of Miletus, produced in 493-2, chronicled the fate of the town of Miletus after it was conquered by the Persians. Herodotus reports that "the Athenians made clear their deep grief for the taking of Miletus in many ways, but especially in this: when Phrynichus wrote a play entitled “The Fall of Miletus” and produced it, the whole theatre fell to weeping; they fined Phrynichus a thousand drachmas for bringing to mind a calamity that affected them so personally, and forbade the performance of that play forever." He is also thought to be the first to use female characters (though not female performers).
Golden age: new inventions
After the Great Destruction by the Persians in
480 BC, the town and acropolis were rebuilt, and theatre became formalized and an even more major part of Athenian culture and civic pride. This century is normally regarded as the Golden Age of Greek drama. The centrepiece of the annual Dionysia, which took place once in winter and once in spring, was a competition between three tragic playwrights at the
Theatre of Dionysus. Each submitted three tragedies, plus a satyr play (a comic,
burlesque version of a mythological subject). Beginning in a first competition in
486 BC, each playwright also submitted a comedy.
Aristotle claimed that Aeschylus added the second actor, and that Sophocles added the third actor. Apparently the Greek playwrights never put more than three actors on stage, except in very small roles (such as Pylades in
Electra). No women appeared on stage; female roles were played by men. Violence was also never shown on stage. When somebody was about to die, they'd take that person to the back to "kill" them and bring them back "dead." The other people near the stage were the chorus which consisted of about 4-8 people who would stand in the back wearing black.
Although there were many playwrights in this era, only the work of four playwrights has survived in the form of complete plays. All are from Athens. These playwrights are the tragedians
Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and
Euripides, and the comic writer
Aristophanes. Their plays, along with some
secondary sources such as Aristotle, are the basis of what is known about Greek theatre. Because of this, there's much that remains unknown about theatre.
Hellenistic period
The power of Athens declined following its defeat in the
Peloponnesian War against the Spartans. From that time on, the theatre started performing old plays again. Although its theatrical traditions seem to have lost their vitality, Greek theatre continued into the
Hellenistic period (the period following
Alexander the Great's conquests in the
fourth century BC). However, the primary Hellenistic theatrical form wasn't tragedy but '
New Comedy', comic farces about the lives of ordinary citizens. The only extant playwright from the period is
Menander. One of New Comedy's most important contributions was its influence on Roman comedy, an influence that can be seen in the surviving works of
Plautus and
Terence.
Characteristics of the building
The plays had a chorus of up to fifty people, who performed the plays in verse accompanied by music, beginning in the morning and lasting until the evening. The performance space was a simple semi-circular space, the
orchestra, where the chorus danced and sang. The orchestra, which had an average diameter of 78 feet, was situated on a flattened terrace at the foot of a hill, the slope of which produced a natural
theatron, literally "watching place". Later, the term "theatre" came to be applied to the whole area of theatron, orchestra, and skené. The
choragos was the head chorus member who could enter the story as a character able to interact with the characters of a play.
The theatres were originally built on a very large scale to accommodate the large number of people on stage, as well as the large number of people in the audience, up to fourteen thousand. Mathematics played a large role in the construction of these theatres, as their designers had to able to create
acoustics in them such that the actors' voices could be heard throughout the theatre, including the very top row of seats. The Greeks' understanding of acoustics compares very favourably with the current state of the art, as even with the invention of microphones, there are very few modern large theatres that have truly good acoustics. The first seats in Greek theatres (other than just sitting on the ground) were wooden, but around 499 BC the practice of inlaying stone blocks into the side of the hill to create permanent, stable seating became more common. They were called the "prohedria" and reserved for priests and a few most respected citizens.
In
465 BC, the playwrights began using a backdrop or scenic wall, which hung or stood behind the orchestra, which also served as an area where actors could change their costumes. It was known as the
skené, or scene. The death of a character was always heard, “ob skene”, or behind the skene, for it was considered inappropriate to show a killing in view of the audience. The English word 'obscene' is a derivative of 'ob skene.' In 425 BC a stone scene wall, called a paraskenia, became a common supplement to skenes in the theatres. A paraskenia was a long wall with projecting sides, which may have had doorways for entrances and exits. Just behind the paraskenia was the proskenion. The proskenion ("in front of the scene") was columned, and was similar to the modern day proscenium. Today's proscenium is what separates the audience from the stage. It is the frame around the stage that makes it look like the action is taking place in a picture frame.
Greek theatres also had entrances for the actors and chorus members called
parodoi. The parodoi (plural of parodos) were tall arches that opened onto the orchestra, through which the performers entered. In between the parodoi and the orchestra lay the
eisodoi, through which actors entered and exited. By the end of the 5th century BC, around the time of the Peloponnesian War, the
skene, the back wall, was two stories high. The upper story was called the episkenion. Some theatres also had a raised speaking place on the orchestra called the logeion.
Scenic Elements
There were several scenic elements commonly used in Greek theatre:
- machina, a crane that gave the impression of a flying actor (thus, deus ex machina).
- ekkyklema, a wheeled wagon used to bring dead characters into view for the audience
- trap doors, or similar openings in the ground to lift people onto the stage
- Pinakes, pictures hung into the scene to show a scene's scenery
- 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.
Writing
Tragedy and
comedy were viewed as completely separate genres, and no plays ever merged aspects of the two.
Satyr plays dealt with the mythological subject matter of the tragedies, but in a purely comedic manner. However, as they were written over a century after the Athenian Golden Age, it isn't known whether dramatists such as Sophocles and Euripides would have thought about their plays in the same terms.
Comedy and Tragedy masks
The comedy and tragedy masks have their origin in the theatre of ancient Greece. The masks were used to show the emotions of the characters in a play, and also to allow actors to switch between roles and play characters of a different gender. The earliest plays were called Satyrs; they were parodies of myths. Their style was much like what we know as
Burlesque.
The actors in these plays that had tragic roles wore a boot called a cothurnus that elevated them above the other actors. The actors with comedic roles only wore a thin soled shoe called a
sock.
In order to play female roles, actors wore a “prosterneda” (a wooden structure in front of the chest, to imitate female breasts) and “progastreda” in front of the belly.
Melpomene is the
muse of tragedy and is often depicted holding the tragic mask and wearing cothurnus.
Thalia is the muse of comedy and is similarly associated with the mask of comedy and comic’s
socks. Some people refer to the masks as “
Sock and Buskin.”
Influential playwrights (listed chronologically with important/surviving works)
Tragedies
Aeschylus (c. 525–456 BC):
Phrynichus (~511 BC):
- The Fall of Miletus (late 500s BC)
Euripides (c. 480–406 BC):
Sophocles (c. 495-406 BC):
Comedies
Aristophanes (c. 446-388 BC), presumed father of comedy:
Menander (c. 342-291 BC), chief inventor of the New Comedy
Development of the ancient Greek theatre in India
Much of what we know about Ancient Greek theatre is speculation, because very little literature from that time actually survived. In contrast, the documents in Sanskrit from the first century B.C.E in India are numerous and well preserved. By looking at the relationship between ancient Indian drama and ancient Greek drama, it's possible to gain a greater insight into how Greek drama might actually have been performed.
Between the years of 180 and 30 B.C.E., a Greek kingdom (the Bactrian Kingdom established by Alexander the Great) flourished in Northern India, where it was by that time changing into a Indo-Greek Kingdom. This kingdom established a Greek society, including cities based on the Greek polis, on the Indian subcontinent. No polis would be complete without a venue for drama, and so it was very likely that Greek drama was performed in Northern India during these years (this hypothesis is also supported by the discovery of a shard of a pot found in the Bactrian kingdom region depicting a scene from Sophocles' Antigone).
A series of invasions in Northern India in the years following 30 B.C.E. destroyed the Indo-Greek Kingdom of Bactria and dispersed many Greeks throughout the rest of India, where the Greek population grew thanks to the increasing trade and the establishment of Greek and Roman trading colonies along the Silk Roads. There is no direct evidence that Greek theatre was performed in India, but as Greek theatre troupes travelled as far as Armenia and Spain, it's probable that some amount of Greek theatre made its way to India.
Bactrian Greeks adopted many aspects of the Indian culture, many converting to Buddhism and Hinduism. The cultural exchange between the Greeks and the Indians may also have included theatrical practices. Some aspects of Sanskrit Drama thought to have come from the Greeks are the 5-act form of a drama, and the use of the curtain as a dramatic device. But maybe there was much independent development in Sanskrit drama, because Indian plays had changes of time and setting between acts, while Greek plays did not. However, the discovery of a play from an Alexandrian Jew, in which both time and setting changed between acts, refutes this argument. The evidence that the use of the curtain was a consequence of exchange with Greek theater is that the Sanskrit term for curtain, Yavanika, means "something Greek," though the translation of "something" is debated. The curtain was used as a theatrical device in a fashion very similar to how they were used in Greek mime plays, that's it didn't fall from above, but was a construction that could be hoisted from below the stage.
The relationship between Sanskrit drama and Greek mime in all likelihood involved a giving and receiving on both sides. There are parallels between the Indian sutradhara and sutradhari and the Greek archimimus and archimima. Evidence for the mutual influence as opposed to a receiving role of Sanskrit theater is that women, who were excluded all other forms of Greek drama but were performing in India well before any interaction with the Greeks, were allowed to perform in Greek mime.
Kutiyattam of Kerala is a form of Indian theatre that has survived intact from ancient times. Kutiyattam retains many performance aspects from ancient Sanskrit drama and potentially from Greek drama as well. Kutyattam and Greek drama very likely had much interaction given how closely they resemble each other in certain ways: both types of performance take place in temples; both do a mixture of dance, drama, and music (Indian nritha, nataka, and gana, and Greek mousikê); both use the same types of instruments (wind, cymbals, drums); and neither uses realistic scenery, but rather uses representations.
Insight into Greek actors' performances can perhaps be found through study of Kutiyattam. It is well known that correct and clear pronunciation was highly valued in Greek drama. The same is true of Kutiyattam. In Kutiyattam, diction must be slow so that the accompanying hand gestures, mudras, could be understood. The Greeks, too, had these hand gestures: cheironomia. Every word was associated with different hand gesture in both forms of drama, and as each word was required to be accompanied by its gesture, the performance of a Greek drama was certainly not quick. Performances may not have been as lengthy as Kutiyattam, which took days to weeks to complete, but it makes sense that it took - and in the dionysia festival is known to have taken - a complete day to do five fifteen-hundred line plays.
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