Workshop by Ryan Watkinson and David Zelek

Greek Theatre

Festivals of Dionysus: it may refer to several celebrations held in Athens in honor of the Greek god Dionysus: The Dionysia, a festival of the Rural Dionysia and the City Dionysia, the central event of which was the performance and judging of tragedies and comedies.

The festivals were attended by all Athenian citizens (likely women as well as men) and visitors from throughout Greece. In the tragic competition, each of three tragic poets wrote, produced, and probably acted in three tragedies on a single theme. Each poet also presented a satyr play, which treated some heroic subject in burlesque fashion.

Introduction to Greek Theatre

Comedy: The first comedies were mainly satirical and mocked men in power for their vanity and foolishness. The first master of comedy was the playwright Aristophanes.

Satyr: These short plays were performed between the acts of tragedies and made fun of the plight of the tragedy's characters. The satyrs were mythical half-human, half-goat figures and actors in these plays wore large phalluses for comic effect.

Tragedy: Tragedy dealt with the big themes of love, loss, pride, the abuse of power and the fraught relationships between men and gods. Typically the main protagonist of a tragedy commits some terrible crime without realizing how foolish and arrogant he has been. Then, as he slowly realizes his error, the world crumbles around him.

Types of Greek Theatre

Certainly, there are many religious elements in the surviving plays. Most of Sophocles work consists of a retelling of religious-based myths. Many other plays make either makes references to the Gods. During some plays the gods of Olympus directly interact with the characters.

Other elements reveal the religious origins of Greek Drama:

Ceremonial masksA Chorus (performers who would speak in unison)A religious altar on the stage

Parts of Greek Theathre

Sophocles: Ajax , Antigone, Oedipus the King, Trachiniae, Electra, Philoctetes and Oedipus at Colonus.

The Playwrights: Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus

Euripides: Medea, The Bacchae, Hippolytus and Alcestis

The Playwrights: Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus

Aeschylus: The first great tragedian. Oresteia (a trilogy comprising Agamemnon, Choephoroi, and Eumenides) and Prometheus Bound (the first part of a trilogy of which the last two parts have been lost)

The Playwrights: Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus

Should we follow the rule of law, or our own moral code?

Do we have free will?How should we respond to injustice?What do I do if I encounter a Cyclops?

The plays of Ancient Greece ask questions that are still surprisingly relevant to our lives today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSRLK7SogvE

Video

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