Theater, Drama, and Art

By: Alexis HoustonMildred Diaz

Aka: Lexii and MiMi

Ancient Greece Drama and

Theater

The Origins of Drama and Theater

• Greek theater or Greek Drama is a theatrical tradition that flourished in ancient Greece twenty-five hundred years ago, two thousand years before Shakespeare in between c.600 and c.200 BC .

• The city state of Athens, the political and military power in Greece during this period, was the epicenter of ancient Greek theatre.

• Athenian tragedy, comedy, and satyr plays were some of the earliest theatrical forms to emerge in the world. Greek theater and plays have had a lasting impact on Western drama and culture

• Their achievement is truly remarkable when one considers that there have been only two other periods in the history of theatre that could be said to approach the greatness of ancient Athens - Elizabethan England and, perhaps the Twentieth Century.

Tragedy

• The word "tragedy" refers primarily to tragic drama: a literary composition written to be performed by actors in which a central character called a tragic protagonist or hero suffers some serious misfortune which is not accidental and therefore meaningless, but is significant in that the misfortune is logically connected with the hero's actions.

• In tragic plays of Ancient Greece, the chorus was originally made up of 12 singing and dancing members. The whole chorus tried to stay in rhythm with each other so they could be viewed as one entity rather than separate entities. The leader of the chorus interacted with the characters in the play, and spoke for the general population.

Comedy

• Comedy is literary work that aims primarily to provoke laughter. Unlike tragedy, comedy strives to entertain chiefly through criticism and ridicule of man's customs and institutions.

• This comedy is divided into three sections- Old comedy, Middle comedy, and New comedy.

Satyr Plays

• Satyr was based on Greek mythology that contained themes of, among other things, drinking, overt sexuality, pranks and general merriment

• The satyr plays were performed at the end of the festivals as spirited entertainment to lighten the atmosphere after many hours of Tragedy, or between the 2nd and 3rd Tragedy of a trilogy as comic relief.

Did you know?

• That Greek tragedy was performed as part of an estimated 5-day Athenian religious festival, could of been instituted by Peisistratus.

• The Roman comedy writers followed Greek New Comedy

• Men played the role of women. • Actors wore masks.

¿Deus ex machina?

• Deus ex machina literally means "The god from the machine".

• In ancient Greek drama, this was a term used for a mechanical device which would lower a god onto the stage to intervene and provide a solution to the conflict at hand.

• Currently, this term is still used of works of literature and drama. The modern usage of Deus ex machina is to refer to any rescuing agency introduced by a writer to bring about a desired conclusion, usually without much regard to logic, character, or the situation.

Theaters• The Dionysus theater in Athens, which is located on the hill of the Acropolis, is the oldest theater in Ancient Greece

Comedy and Tragedy Masks

• These two masks symbolize theater and its two major dramatic categories, comedy and tragedy.

• These masks have played an important part in the history of drama.

• They were originally used to allow the actors to clearly convey emotions such as anger, joy, or sorrow to the entire audience, and they made it easier for men to portray female characters.

The Art of th

e

Greeks

• Medusa’s Head

• Medusa was a monstrous female character whose gaze could turn people to stone

•This a sculpture of Antinous who was Roman emperor Hadrian's lover

Charioteer o

f

Delphi

Alexander was one of the most successful military commanders of all time and is presumed undefeated in battle

The Winged Victory is a masterpiece of Hellenistic art.

The architecture and purpose of the Parthenon in Athens epitomizes many facets of Greek culture, both ancient and modern.

The Goulandris Museum of Cycladic Art is an illustration of a blend of Byzantine and Neo-classical architecture.

Socrates was a classical Greek Philosopher who main method of teaching was questioning.

Thanks for watch Lexii and MiMi’s Blast from the Past!

Ancient Greece