Greek and Roman Influences800 BC-400 AD

Classical Greek

Presents the universal ideal of beauty through logic, order, reason and moderation.

Instructs and perfects humans.

Used ritual worship to affirm the importance of the gods.

Theatre: “a place for seeing”

The word theatre comes from the Greek word “theatron”

Literally “a place for seeing”

Theatre is an interpretive disciplineBetween the playwright and the audience stand the director, the designers, and the actors.

The Greek TheatreBegan as a circular stage placed in a valley surrounded by hillsKnown as the theatron when stone seating was added.A skene was built for costume changes15,000 to 20,000 people would attend the playsEach scene had no more than three actors on the stage at one time.The performances began at first light and would end around noon. The actors faced east.

Epidaurus

CostumesThe actors were always men.

Actors wore bright robes of different colors to convey specific information to audience.

Robes were padded.

Thick soled boots were worn to increase height in addition to large wigs worn above elaborate masks.

The large masks allowed the audience to identify the character’s emotion and identity.

Priene

Question

Who did the Greeks honor by performing dramatic works?

Why ?

Dionysus: God of Wine, Celebration, and Fertility

Son of Zeus and a mortal mother

Hera killed his mother with a thunderbolt

Zeus took him to Mount Olympus and sewed him into his thigh until maturity

Picture: The Birth of Dionysus

Dionysus: Patron of Drama

Worshipped through the singing of hymns or dithrambs during festivals

Four Festivals were held throughout the year

City Dionysia was the most famous

City DionysiaFive days in length

His statue was moved to the worship site on the first day

10 city-states would present a hymn—each had a judge

The fifth day a winner would be announced.

The Competiton

Steps were taken to ensure city-states had an edge in competition

***Thespis: the first actor

1. The director would questions the chorus.

2. Acting took place.

3. They hired writers

Competition became very tough

***An Archon was hired

1. He selected only three plays as a result of time.

2. He would announce the winner.

3. Archon decided that each playwright had to write four plays.

The Plays and The Prizes

Each poet would produce a trilogy and a satyr play.

The trilogy was a set of three plays performed for religious worship and they were tragedies.

The satyr was a short play performed for a lite, comic relief.

The winner would receive either a goat or grapes.

Greek word for goat is Tragos + ODE = tragedy

Greek word for grapes is

Comos + ODE = comedy

Aristotle: Greek Philosopher

Born in 384 B.C.

Studied under Plato and tutored Alexander the Great.

Wrote the essay The Poetics. Greek word for playwright is POET.

Became the first critic/person to analyze theatreIdeas for the Tragic Hero

Six Fundamentals of Theatre

The Tragic Hero“High” status positionEmbody nobility/virtueCharacter flawPunishment exceeds crimeAn increase in awarenessCatharsis-purging of emotion

**Greek drama was not considered “entertainment”: a communal function to contribute to the good health of the community.

Picture: Oedipus with Guards

Aristotle’s Six Elements of Theatre

Plot: What happens in a play; the order of events; what happens rather than what it means.Theme: What the play means opposed to what happens; the main idea.Character: The personality of the part an actor represents in a play; a role played by an actor in a play.

Diction/Language: The word choices made by the playwright and the enunciation of the actors delivering the lines.Music/Rhythm: Aristotle meant the sound, rhythm and melody of the speeches.Spectacle: The visual elements of the production of a play; the scenery, costumes, and special effects in a production.

The Playwrights

Aeschylus: 525-456 B.C.Sophocles: Died 406 B.C.Euripides: Died 406 B.C.

Younger that SophoclesCompeted against each other

They are the only three Ancient Greek playwrights whose works have survived.

Aeschylus

Wrote magnificent tragedies on lofty moral themes. Wrote the tragedy Agamemnon.

Plays appeal strongly to the intellect.

Referred to as the creator of tragedy.

According to Aristotle, Aeschylus was responsible for adding the second actor.

***Thespis was the first actor.

Sophocles

Sophocles: themes are more human, and his characters more subtle, although he explores the themes of human responsibility, dignity, and fate with the same intensity and seriousness we see in Aeschylus. (Oedipus the King and Antigone)

Added the third actor.

EuripidesEuripides’ plays relied heavily on realism. He focused on individual emotions rather than great events.

Relied less heavily on the chorus.

Questioned the religion of the day in his plays. More like a tragicomedy than pure tragedy.

His plays are the most popular of the Greek tragedies today.

Known for The Bacchae and Medea

Aristophanes and the Comedy

450-380 B.C.

Plays were satirical, sophisticated, and obscene.

Focused on personal and political targets of his criticism

The Acharnians of the post-classical period.

From Classical to the Hellenistic Period

Comedy was the staple of the theatre.

The skene was frequently two stories tall.

Political themes were gone and religion no longer played a central role in the theatre.

Chorus disappeared entirely.

Pastoral and the idyll forms were introduced.

Roman Theatre

Roman theatre lacked intellectual appeal.

Served as an important social function in keeping the minds of the masses off of their problems.

Used theatrical satire to punish the bureaucracy for wrongs committed against the general public.

Three Types of Roman Theatre

Farce: themes parodied mythology and, later, burlesqued tragedy. Roman Comedy: borrowed from Hellenistic comedy and classic Greek structure

Playwrights: Plutus, Menander, and Terence

Mime: dealt with low life,and appealed to all classes of Romans. Ridiculed Christianity.

End of Presentation