Transcript - PlanbookConnect

Greek Theatre
for IB Theatre
Theatre Class, 2011-2012
Greek Theatre TimeLine
600 BCE The Beginning of the dithyramb
555 BCE The development of the first actor.
534 BCE The beginning of play contests in
Athens.
487 BCE Introduction of Comedy
468 BCE The third actor beginnings
350 BCE Professional Actors replace Amateur
Actors
250 BCE Beginning of Roman Theatre
Background on Early Greece
Greece was made up of city-states at the
beginning of the fifth century B.C.E
Athens was the birth place of democracy.
Democracy was for all free men. They did
have slavery and woman were subservient.
They helped form our understanding of
geometry.
The Physician’s Oath
They believed in multiple gods.
The Start of Theatre
Greek Theatre started with religious
ceremonies honoring the gods.
They honored Dionysus. The god of
wine, fertility and revelry
The dithyramb was a long hymn, sung
and danced by a group of fifty men.
 Later used for detailing heroic stories.
Thespis
Credited with being the first actor.
 Stepped out of the Dithyramb and gave
a prologue
 Also credited with being the first Tragedy
writer
 The reason we have the word Thespian, a
synonym for actor
The Ancient Greek word for actor is
hypokrite literally means “answerer”
Religion and Theater


Greeks did not believe that gods were all
powerful,
 but, they believed the gods would
protect them and help them see the
future.
Theatre was a central part of religious
festivals
 so they where both religious events
and entertainment
 That is why all social classes attended
them.
The Festivals at the City of Dionysia
This festival honored Dionysus
 held towards the end of March
when spring arrived!
 lasted for several days
 would have parades to bring in
support for the shows!
The Festivals at the City of Dionysia
 First two days where for dithyrambic
chorus: One day for Men and one
day for boys
 Three days for tragedies and satyr
plays. Usually one playwright would
present three plays and one satyr
 These four plays would be called
tetralogy
Where did play ideas come from?
 from Greek myths
 for the action characters and
setting
 myth is a story or legend
 sometimes invented or sometimes
loosely based on truth.
 they were an attempt to explain
natural and human events.
Greek Tragedy
• Most of the early tragedy writing(6th
Century B.C.E.) did not survive.
• A couple writers of this time were Arion
and Thespis
• It was the 5th Century B.C.E. that we
know more about!
Aeschylus
525-456 B.C.E.
• He was born to a noble family
• Also know as a solider and prominent citizen
• He added the second actor. This gave us
true dialogue.
• He is know to be founder of Greek Theatre
• He reduced the chorus from 50 to 12
• Believed to have written ninety plays. Only
seven plays still exist.
Sophocles
496-406 B.C.E.
The son of a wealthy Athenian
Known for his superb plot construction.
Increased the chorus from 12 to 15
Introduced the third actor - enlarged the possibilities for
conflict and interaction.
 Three plays still exist today and sometimes are done as
a trilogy, but they are not. They are just about the same
families fate. The plays are King Oedipus, Antigone,
and Oedipus at Colonus
 Thought to have written over 120 plays, only 7 complete
tragedies have survived and only fragments of his satyr
plays also survive




Euripides
480-406 B.C.E.
 Born wealthy, but was not part Greek life. Rather
watch the world around him, he was moody and
reclusive.
 Was considered the most “modern” because
 his sympathetic portrayal of women,
 the greater realism of his plays, i.e. characters
behaved like people did in everyday life.
 his mixture of tragedy with melodrama and
comedy
 his skeptical treatment of the gods
 18 plays by Euripides still exist.
Aristotle and the Tragic Form
• Plot- the arrangement of dramatic
incidents
• Character- the people represented in the
play
• Thought or Theme- the ideas explored
• Language- the dialogue and poetry
• Music
• Spectacle- Scenery and other visual
elements
Satyr Plays
• Satyr play was a comical play involving a
chorus of satyrs, mythological creatures
who are half-man and half-goat.
• These plays poked fun at Greek traditions,
for example myths, religion, and heroes.
• They usually were very vulgar.
• The only complete satyr play is “The
Cyclops” by Euripides
Old Comedies
• The only old comedies that survived were written
by Aristophanes.
• They do not follow the pattern of climactic
drama:
– they do not take place in a short span of time
– are not restricted to one locale
– have a large cast of characters.
• They always make fun of society, politics, or
culture
• Characters are frequently recognizable
contemporary personalities.
Aristophanes 448-380 B.C.E.
Best know comedy playwright
Complained everyone was stealing his plots
and ideas.
Son of a Wealthy citizen, part of the
conservative Athenian Middle Class.
He wrote forty plays, eleven plays survived.
He usually turned his plays over for other
people to direct them.
The Theatre Building
 Held from 15,000 to
17,000 people
 Used natural lighting, i.e. if
a show needed a sunset, it
would be the last show of
the day
 Theatron = viewing place
 Orchestra = playing area
 Skene = Scene building
 Parados = one of two
gangways on which chorus
& actors made their
entrances from either side
into the orchestra.
 The Theatron was built
into the hillside and
started out with wooden
benches and then
moved into stone
 It was believed that
different Greek Tribes
were segregated and
The
Orchestra
was
66
feet
in
then men and woman
diameter
paved
in
stone.
This
(if woman where
staging
was
similar
to
the
allowed)
thrust stage of today.
The Skene had
dressing rooms and
was used for prop
storage
It is believed to be the
basic setting for all plays
after 458 B.C.E
Scenery and Special Effects
 Invented the use of periaktoi, a
three sided flat that would
rotate and have a different
piece of scenery on each side.
 The two major special effect
features where:
 Deus ex machina or god from a
machine
 Ekkyklema = a rolling wagon that
would bring out the dead.
There is NEVER
Violence on Stage!
Costumes and Masks
• They wore masks all the time. During
tragedies the chorus had all the same mask,
but during comedies they would vary
• Masks were used to show expressions and
help people understand which character
was which.
• Costumes - they wore very ornate tunics or
cloaks.
The Performance Project
• You will put together a 10 to 15 minute
piece from one of the plays we will
read.
• This will be memorized and blocked to
the fullest.
• You will be graded on your
interpretation of the piece and what
you took away from the lecture.
• This will be worth 200 points
Essay Quiz for Today
• What do you know about Greek
Theatre?
• How should Mrs. Blair grade “time
usage in class”?
• Have you signed up to test this year?
Vocabulary Test - Lighting
1. What is shin lighting?
2. Why do they use colored lights on
stage?
3. What is a backlight?
4. How can light be used as
punctuation on stage?
5. How is Mood used in stage lighting?