Transcript The Classical Period 3

Greek and Roman Influences
800 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 discipline
Between the playwright and the audience stand
the director, the designers, and the actors.
The Greek Theatre
Began as a circular stage placed in a valley
surrounded by hills
Known as the theatron when stone seating was
added.
A skene was built for costume changes
15,000 to 20,000 people would attend the plays
Each 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
Costumes
The 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 Dionysia
Five 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
Competition became
Steps were taken to
very tough
ensure city-states had
an edge in competition ***An Archon was hired
***Thespis: the first actor
1. The director would
questions the chorus.
2. Acting took place.
3. They hired writers
1.
2.
3.
He selected only three
plays as a result of time.
He would announce the
winner.
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 theatre
Ideas for the Tragic Hero
Six Fundamentals of Theatre
The Tragic Hero
“High” status position
Embody nobility/virtue
Character flaw
Punishment exceeds crime
An increase in awareness
Catharsis-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 Sophocles
Competed 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.
Euripides
Euripides’ 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