Transcript Greek Theatre

Antigone
In Athens, Greece, about 2,500 years ago,
an amazing thing occurred. It was a time of
invention, of art and culture, of something
new every week.
This flowering—which was built on the
wealth Athens got from resources like its
silver mines—included the invention of
medicine and history, the development of
scientific observation and geometry, and
the first flowering of philosophy.
Athenian Democracy
…was direct, meaning there
were no representatives. The
citizens met on a hill in sight
of the Temple of Athena.
There they proposed
legislation, had debates, and
voted. Picture between 6,000
and 40,000 men gathered on
a slope all day, making policy
for an empire….
The big hill is the Acropolis with the
city’s major temples. In the
foreground, the rocky slope is the hill
where Athens’ ruling council had met
long before democracy developed.
Theatre developed as a part of this new democratic movement. Its
audience was the same group of citizens who made the laws—the “polity”
or electorate. There is evidence that citizens were required or even paid
to attend the annual plays. Perhaps this is why so much Greek drama
deals with questions of justice, leadership, and power.
But it was also religious—or at least part of a
religious festival. In the spring, Athens held a
celebration in honor of the god Dionysus, who
is the god of wine, but also of altered states—like
madness, religious ecstasy, or maybe acting.
Business would shut down for days, people would
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TENT
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behind the stage
holy ground—but
(skene) was replaced
not as a religious
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eventstructure.
per se.
So Greek plays were performed during
religious festivals, for the citizens of the polis,
and often address the tension between
religious, family, and public duties.
A note: citizenship was limited to male,
freeborn, native citizens, who would also have
all been military veterans. In the 5th century,
this is probably about 43,000 people.
Theatron
Audience seating. In
the fifth century,
people sat on the bare
hillside, but before
long seating was built.
Orchestra
“Dancing Place”
where chorus
sang
Parados
Choral
entrance
Tent (this is what skene
means) or building
upstage where actors
could change their maks
and robes.
Aristotle says that
Sophocles invented
skenographia—literally,
writing or scratching on
the skene.
For the annual festival, a city official would
choose three playwrights to compete. Each one
would write THREE tragedies (a trilogy) and
one satyr play (a burlesque), and they would
compete for a prize.
Sophocles competed in the City
Dionysia for sixty years or so—
and never placed last!
In these plays, there are
never more than
three actors, each
playing several roles.
The actors were all
mean or adolescent
boys. Aristotle says
that it was Sophocles
who added the third
actor.
Dramatist
Born
Wrote
Aeschylus
524 B.C.
Seven Against
Thebes
Sophocles
496 B.C.
Antigone
Oedipus
Euripides
480 B.C.
Medea
Sophocles’ audience would have already known Oedipus’ story, which is
recorded in Homer and Hesiod and would have been very familiar to the
Greeks. They knew from the title what would happen in the play.
However, playwrights did have some freedom to alter details of the story for
their own purposes. For
instance, in some versions
of the myth, Oedipus has
only one daughter, Antigone.
More significantly, in The
Oddysey, Homer says that
after the events recounted
In this play, Oedipus went
on to rule Thebes in peace
for some years.
The oracle at Delphi
Oedipus’ father was Laius, the king of
Thebes. Before his birth, the oracle at
Delphi told Laius that his son with
Jocasta would kill his father and marry
his mother.
Laius and Jocasta decide to expose the infant—to leave him on a
hillside to die. First, though, Laius pierces the infant’s feet or
ankles (probably a spell to counter the curse). By the way,
exposing an infant was an acceptable practice in Greece. This
would not have been seen as murdering one’s child.
Notice something: this means that
Laius and Jocasta believe in the
oracle’s truth—that is, they believe
that Apollo has revealed the
future. They believe so strongly
that they’re even willing to
sacrifice their firstborn son, the
crown prince.
But the baby was rescued and wound up adopted
by the king of Corinth. As a young man,
Oedipus hears a rumor he’s adopted and heads
to Delphi, where he hears the same thing Laius
heard. Now he still thinks the Corinthians are
his parents, so he runs the other way—straight to
Thebes. On the road he kills an old man (long
story), who of course turns out to be his longlost daddy Laius. But he doesn’t know that.
When he arrives in Thebes, the city is being terrorized by a
female monster called the Sphinx. She asks travelers a
riddle, and when they can’t answer, she kills them.
Oedipus (being both strong and smart) answers the riddle.
The grateful population rewards him with the throne
(since their king has recently died)…but that also means
marrying the queen. That’s right: Jocasta his mama.
Oedipus and Jocasta have four children: twin sons Eteocles and Polynices,
then the girls Antigone and Ismene.
Eventually Oedipus learns the truth—this is the
story of Oedipus Tyrranos (badly translated “the
king). He goes into exile, and his sons agree to
share power in alternate years. However, one
year Eteocles refuses to give up the reins.
Polynices goes to Argos and
raises an army to regain the
throne—bringing civil war on
Therefore at the opening of the play Antigone, you
city.
should picture his
smokeown
over the
city, seven armies
camped at the gates, the kings both dead. You
should picture people in terror and mourning
because of Antigone’s brothers.
Oedipus’ sons are succeeded by
Antigone’s uncle (Jocasta’s
brother), Creon.
This is where our play picks up.
Remember, the audience knew
all of this before they arrived.