Oedipus the King

and

Greek Tragedy

The origins of Greek tragedy are unclear. The most common theory suggests thatthey evolved from a form of play called the dithyramb, performed at four set times of the year in honour of Dionysius (a.k.a. Bacchus) the God of wine, vegetation, moisture and pleasure. Dionysius roamed the world with a retinue of his randy friends, the Satyrs, bringing the world the vine (wine), erotic joy, and sometimes — trouble. The dithyrambic festivals were called orgia, and guess what word somes from that!

Clearly a hard-living partyanimal, Dionysius got around inunusual ways. Here he’s riding a leopard.

These celebrations, loud anddrunken, were held outside oftown and involved, among otherthings, dancing around a 16foot stone phallus, which more orless gives us an idea of whateveryone was really thinking about.

Note that the men participatingin the dance are dressed as satyrs.

Hmmm. What’s a phallus, you ask?

The phallus usually refers to the male penis or sex organ. The word may also refer to a type of mushroom having the cap hanging free around the stem. Any object that visually resembles a penis may be referred to as a "phallus", however, such objects are more correctly refered to as being "phallic.“

No, I am not making this up.

No, I will not provide a picture for this slide.

Dionysius hung around with satyrs, creatures described as half ram and halfman. Below you will find a “polite” picture of a satyr.

The Greeks, however, werenot overly concerned withpolite art. This is a satyr aspictured on Greek pottery.

As the song goes, “We ain’tnothing but mammals”.

Satyrs, it seems, were very… mammalian!

This detail from the Pronomos vaseshows a group of people involved ina “play”. We see four easily identified satyrs, and two men incostume, each carrying a mask.

The dithyramb, however, would haveonly included the satyrs, and theywould perform a dance-chant. Afterall, it was a religious occasion!

Aristotle speculated that one ofthe lead figures in the dithyramb might have separated himself from the group. Instead of chanting the myth- all dithyrambs presented tales fromthe myths - he began to actually act it out.

The first individual to achieve famedoing this was Thespis, and from hisname comes the word, “thespian”.

If this is true, then this represents the birth of the play in something closeto its modern form. For instead of just a chorus, a group performing a dance-chant together, we now had a single actor and a chorus. However, theactor, of necessity, interacted only with the chorus, answering theirquestions or relating a narrative to them. The great Greek playwright,Aeschylus, added a second actor. Our hero, Sophocles, the greatest ofthem all, added a third actor! Unheard of! Absurd! But theatre as we know it was born.

Aeschylus Sophocles

The presence of three actors on the stage freed dramatists to expandthe scope of drama considerably. However, there were a few realitiescomplicating their lives. If, for example, there were more than threecharacters, as is the case in Oedipus, then one actor would play severalparts. As well, no women were part of the process, so the role ofJocasta, for example, would be played by a man. In fact, the role ofAntigone, a young woman in the play that bears her name, was played bya quite elderly man. Children did indeed appear on the stage, but neverwith speaking roles.

Hmmm. Is she, or isn’t he?

(Jocasta in a modern production

of Oedipus the King)

While the scope of drama grew far beyond the dithyrambs, tragedy remainedlinked to Dionysius. In Athens, plays were presented at the Theatre of Dionysius,a large structure capable of holding audiences of 15,000. While the plays were not themselves religious ritual, they were performed as part of great eventshonoring the divinities. And like the Olympic Games, the presentation of playswas a competition.

The Theatre of Dionysius

Grand as the Theatre of Dionysius was, most consider the Theatre of Epidaurus the greatest of the age, in part because of its near perfect natural setting.

It is, of course, still in use.

During the great competitions, each playwright would present a seriesof three tragedies and a satyr play. A Satyr play was a burlesque comedy performed as comic relief after a classical Greek tragic trilogy.

“Burlesque" was originally a form of art that mocked by imitation. It was often ridiculous in that it imitated several styles and combined imitations of authors and artists with absurd descriptions.

Burlesque is a term covering a host offairly raunchy musical comedy shows, oftenincorporating social satire. Popular in the20’s and 30’s, it is once again staging acomeback.

Sophocles won many of these competitions. But before looking at himspecifically, let’s examine what became of the chorus after the evolution of tragedy from dithyramb to the works of Sophocles.

Chorus (defined):

1. A group of masked dancers who performed ceremonial songs at religious festivals in early Greek times.

2. The group in a classical Greek drama whose songs and dances present an exposition of or, in later tradition, a disengaged commentary on the action.

3. The portion of a classical Greek drama consisting of choric dance and song.

http://www.theatrehistory.com/ancient/chorus001.html

The Chorus in a productionof Oedipus the King

In classical tragedy, the chorus represented a kind of “everyman”. In the play we are studying, they are the citizens of Corinth, the common people. By watching and listening to them, we gain a clearer understanding of Oedipus. This is achieved via contrast. The chorusis a kind of “foil” to Oedipus.

Foil A character in a play who sets off the main character or other characters by comparison. In Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet" Benvolio and Mercutio are young men who behave very differently to Romeo

The chorus sings and “dances”. We are not entirely sure what formthe dances took. However, certain terms do provide clues.

Choral songs in tragedy are often divided into three sections: strophe ("turning, circling"), antistrophe ("counter-turning, counter-circling") and epode ("after-song"). So perhaps the chorus would dance one way around the orchestra ("dancing-floor") while singing the strophe, turn another way during the antistrophe, and then stand still during the epode.

Other key terms:

Prologue: spoken by one (or two) characters at the beginningof the play.

Episode: the dramatic segments in the play when the chorusand characters talk.

Stasimon: a choral ode performed by the chorus after eachepisode.

The chorus usually numbered twelve. Sophocles increased this tofifteen. When they sang and danced, they were accompanied by anauletes – a flute player.

The chorus stayed on the orchestra. “The orchestra (literally, "dancing space") was normally circular. It was a level space where the chorus would dance, sing, and interact with the actors who were on the stage near the skene. The earliest orchestras were simply made of hard earth, but in the Classical period some orchestras began to be paved with marble and other materials. In the center of the orchestra there was often a thymele, or altar. The orchestra of the theater of Dionysus in Athens was about 60 feet in diameter”. http://academic.reed.edu/humanities/110Tech/Theater.html

The EndThe End