Greek TheatreGreek Theatre

Greek FestivalsGreek Festivals Festivals honored Olympian gods Ritual Competitions Olympics: Apollo

Athletics Lyric Poetry

Drama: Dionysos Dithyrambic Choruses Tragedy Comedy

Greek TheatreGreek Theatre 6th - 4th century bce Originated in festivals honoring Dionysos Tragedy:

Aeschylus (524-456 bce) Sophocles (496-406 bce) Euripides (480-406 bce)

Comedy: Old Comedy: bawdy and satiric

Aristophanes (c. 485-c.385 bce) New Comedy: social situations:

Menander (342-292 bce)

Theatre FestivalsTheatre Festivals The Greater Dionysia took place at the end of

March or the beginning of April Three days were given over to theatrical

competition. Three playwrights each took part in each

contest Each tragedian put on a trilogy in the morning

and each comic writer put on one comedy in the afternoon.

The festival at Lenaes,staged at the end of January or the beginning of February, placed its emphasis on comedy

Theatre at Epidaurus

Curved seats may have aided Curved seats may have aided acousticsacoustics

ACTORSACTORS No tragedy used more

than 3 actors All actors were male Costumes included

character masks, and, in later years, raised boots

Acting must have more expressive than realistic

Greek TheatreGreek TheatreMasksMasks

THE CHORUS: THE CHORUS: the voice of the citizensthe voice of the citizens

ORIGINS of TRAGEDYORIGINS of TRAGEDY Tragedy, derived from the Greek words tragos (goat) and ode

(song), told a story that was intended to teach religious lessons Tragedy arose from dithyrambic choruses. The dithyramb was an ode to Dionysus. It was usually performed by a chorus of fifty men dressed as

satyrs -- mythological half-human, half-goat servants of Dionysus.

In the 6th c. bce Thespis of Attica added an actor who interacted with the chorus. This actor was called the protagonist.

In 534 BC, the ruler of Athens, Pisistratus, changed the Dionysian Festivals and instituted drama competitions. Thespis won the first competition in 534 BC.

Dionysus Dionysus and Satyrand Satyr

Tragic TetralogiesTragic Tetralogies Each tragic dramatist had to present

a trilogy of tragedies: connected narratively or dramatically

The entire trilogy was performed in one day.

The trilogy was followed by a satyr play - mocking and lightening the seriousness of the tragedies

A Tetralogy, then, is a series of 4 plays: 3 tragedies and one satyr play

TRAGIC STRUCTURETRAGIC STRUCTURE

4-5 alternating scenes and choral odes, including the

PROLOGOS: Introductory scene PARADOS: Entry of chorus

EPISODEION STASIMON

PAEAN: a hymn of praise to the gods

EXODOS: final scene

EPODE: final ode.

ARISTOTLE’SARISTOTLE’STHREE UNITIESTHREE UNITIES

Aristotle’s On Tragedy is usually considered the first piece of Western dramatic criticism. In it, he proclaimed that tragedy must follow the 3 unities: UNITY OF TIME: one day UNITY OF PLACE: one setting UNITY OF ACTION: one plot

                                                  

Melpomene, the Muse of Tragedy

AESCHYLUSAESCHYLUS 525-456 bce525-456 bce

General in Persian Wars -- fought at Marathon, Salamis, Platea

Fierce proponent of Athenian ideals

The first of the great Athenian dramatists, was also the first to express the agony of the individual caught in conflict.

Credited with adding the second actor

Only extant trilogy: The Oresteia Agamemnon The Libation Bearers The Eumenides

SOPHOCLESSOPHOCLES 496 - 406 496 - 406

bcebce Wrote over 100 plays,

but only seven survive Credited with adding the

third actor Known as actor as well

as dramatist Most interested in

human dynamics THEBAN PLAYS:

Oedipus the King Antigone Oedipus at Colonnus

EURIPIDES EURIPIDES c.480-406 bcec.480-406 bce The last of the thee great Greek

tragic dramatists -- 17 plays survive including Medea, The Trojan Women, The Bacchae

Explored the theme of personal conflict within the polis and the depths of the individual

Disgust with events of Peloponnesian War brought about disillusionment with Athens

Men and women bring disaster on themselves because their passions overwhelm their reason

TRAGIC ACTIONTRAGIC ACTIONARETE, ARISTEIA: excellence

HUBRIS: arrogance

HAMARTIA: fatal mistake

PERIPETEIA: reversal of fortune

ANAGNORISIS: understanding

KATHARSIS

Roman mosaic of Aeschylus and Satyr play cast

Ancient Ancient ComedyComedy

Scene from Lenaian Festival c. 490-480 bce

ORIGINS of GREEKORIGINS of GREEKOLD COMEDYOLD COMEDY

Arose from komos : songs of revelry, charms to avert evil, prayers for fertility sung to Dionysus

Chorus dressed ludicrously Audience responded to choral komos and were

gradually admitted into chorus Chorus became two-part group with antiphonal

song Invention of comic chorus is attributed to Susarion Dorian and Sicilian farces were precursors of Old

Comedy

CONVENTIONS of OLD COMEDYCONVENTIONS of OLD COMEDY Scene set on Athenian street “Events seldom occur – they are merely talked about” Masks and fantastic costumes Satiric of contemporary events and public figures Bawdy

                                    

         

Scene from Aristophanes’ Scene from Aristophanes’ TheThe FrogsFrogs

COMIC STRUCTURECOMIC STRUCTURE

Komos: final choral song and exit in wild revelry

4-5 alternating scenes and choral odes

illustrating the outcome of the agon

Prologos: introductory scene

Parados: entry of 24 member chorus dressed in fantastic

costumeAgon: argument “just prior to the agon, the leader of the chorus always asks

one contender to present his argument, and it is this contender who always loses”

Parabasis: chorus’s great song

Episodeion Stasimon

ARISTOPHANESARISTOPHANESc. 448 - 380 BCEc. 448 - 380 BCE

30+ plays; 11 extant; 6 first prizes

Plays include Clouds Wasps Birds Lysistrata Frogs

Critiques of Euripides & Socrates: reactionary conservative; social critic

Plato's epitaph for Aristophanes : “The Graces, seeking a shrine that could not fall, discovered the soul of Aristophanes.”

The Birds

New ComedyNew Comedy By 317 BC, a new form had evolved that resembled

modern farces: mistaken identities, ironic situations, ordinary characters and wit.

Basic plot: Boy meets girl, complications arise, boy gets girl – ends with betrothal or marriage.

5 act structure: acts divided by interludes performed by the chorus

Stock characters: young lovers, parasite, lecherous old men, clever servants, etc.

Social rather than political satire

Terracotta figurines of New Comedy actorsTerracotta figurines of New Comedy actors

MENANDERMENANDER 342-292 bce342-292 bce

1905 a manuscript was discovered in Cairo that contained pieces of five Menander plays, and in 1957 a complete play, Diskolos (The Grouch, 317 BC), was unearthed in Egypt.

Menander’s comedy with its emphasis on mistaken identity, romance and situational humor, became the model for subsequent comedy, from the Romans to Shakespeare to Broadway.

Mosaic of Mosaic of Menander’Menander’

s s SamiaSamia

Parts of Menander’s comedies found their way into plays by

Roman playwrights: Plautus and TerenceShakespeare's Comedy of ErrorsStephen Sondheim's A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Roman TheatreRoman Theatre

ROMAN THEATREROMAN THEATRE

Drama flourished under the Republic but declined into variety entertainment under the Empire

Roman festivals: Held in honor of the gods, but much less religious than in Greece Ludi Romani Became theatrical in 364 B.C.

Held in September (the autumn)and honored Jupiter. By 240 B.C., both comedy and tragedy were performed.

Five others: Ludi Florales (April), Plebeii (November), Apollinares (July), Megalenses (April), Cereales (no particular season).

Under the Empire, these festivals afforded "bread and circuses" to the masses – many

performances. —including a series of plays or events. Acting

troupes (perhaps several a day) put on theatre events.

ROMAN THEATREROMAN THEATRE Encompassed more than drama :

acrobatics, gladiators, jugglers, athletics, chariots races, naumachia (sea battles), boxing, venationes (animal fights)

Entertainment tended to be grandiose, sentimental, diversionary

Actors / performers were called histriones

Fresco with theatre masks

Roman Theatre DesignRoman Theatre Design First permanent Roman theatre built 54 ce

(100 years after the last surviving comedy)So permanent structures came from periods after significant writing

More that 100 permanent theatre structures by 550 ce. Built on level ground with stadium-style seating

(audience raised) Could seat 10-15,000 people Awning over the audience to protect them from the sun During the Empire around 78 ce, cooling system

installed– air blowing over streams of water

Artist’s Impression of the Roman Theatre of Verulamium : Britaincirca CE 180, excavated in 1847by Alan Sorrell

ROMAN COMEDYROMAN COMEDY Chorus was abandoned No act or scene divisions Songs Everyday domestic affairs: Boy meets girl, complications, boy

gets girl: marriage Action placed in the street Bawdy Stock characters Only two playwrights' material survives:

Plautus (c. 254-184 bce) Terence (195 or 185-159 bce)

Thalia,the MuseOf Comedy

STOCK CHARACTERSSTOCK CHARACTERS Senex: old man in authority Pappas: foolish old man Bucco: braggart, boisterous Miles gloriosus: braggart soldier Dossenus: swindler, drunk,

hunchback Shrew: sharp-tongued woman Courtesan Clever servant Young Lovers

PLAUTUSPLAUTUS Titus Maccius Plautus Titus Maccius Plautus

c. 254-184 B.C.E.c. 254-184 B.C.E.

21 extant plays including Pot of Gold, The Menaechmi, Braggart Warrior -- probably between 205-184 B.C.

All based on Greek New Comedies Added Roman allusions, Latin

dialog, varied poetic meters, witty jokes

Some techniques: Stychomythia – dialog with short

lines, like a tennis match Slapstick Songs

TERENCETERENCE Publius Terenius AferPublius Terenius Afer

(195 or 185-159 B.C.E.)(195 or 185-159 B.C.E.)

Born in Carthage, came to Rome as a boy slave, educated and freed

The Afer in his name may indicate that he was an African, and therefore he may have been the first major black playwright in western theater.

Six plays, all of which surviveincluding The Brothers, Mother-in-Law, etc.

More complex plots – combined stories from Greek originals.

Character and double-plots were his forte – contrasts in human behavior

Less boisterous than Plautus, less episodic, more elegant language.

Less popular than Plautus.

Roman TragedyRoman Tragedy None survive from the early period,

and only one playwright from the later period: Seneca

5 act structure – later adopted by Elizabethans

Elaborate speeches -- rhetorical influence

Interest in morality – expressed in sententiae (short pithy generalizations about the human condition)

Medea, Herculaneum c. 70 bce

SENECASENECA

Roman philosopher, orator, dramatist and statesman

Nine extant tragedies, five adapted from Euripides:The Trojan Women, Medea, Oedipus, Agamemnon

Suicide in 65 A.D.– at the orders of Nero

Seneca had a strong effect on later dramatists.

Uncertain whether Seneca's plays were actually performed or simply intended for recitation before a small private audience: closet dramas

Lucius Annaeus Lucius Annaeus

SenecaSeneca (5 or 4 B.C.E.– 65 C.E.)(5 or 4 B.C.E.– 65 C.E.)

Roman SpectacleRoman Spectacle Gladiatorial combats Chariot races Naumachia: Naval

battles in a flooded Coliseum

“Real-life” theatricals

Decadent, violent and immoral

All theatrical events banned by Church when Rome became Christianized

The The EndEnd