Transcript The Greek Theater

The Greek Theater
Closely adapted from:
Bill Worthen. The Harcourt Brace Anthology of
Drama.
Gassner, John. Introducing the Drama . New York:
Holt, Reinhart and Winston, Inc. 1963.
Pickering, Kenneth. Studying Modern Drama. 2nd
edition. London : Palgrave MacMillan, 2002.
Ancient Drama

Great drama arises where the theater
occupies an important place in the life of
the community. Theater as we know it has
its origins in the early days of Greece; in
many respects, Western understanding of
drama originated in fifth-century classical
Athens, where the theater played a central
role in politics, religion, and society.
City Dionysia

The city of Dionysia, the most prominent of the
four religious festivals honoring Dionysus, was
held between December and April in Athens and
the surrounding province of Attica. Although its
purpose was primarily religious, the City
Dionysia was structured around a series of
contests between individual citizens and
between major Athenian social groups—the ten
(later twelve to fifteen) “tribes” that formed the
city’s basic political and military units.
Dionysus

Dionysus (or Bacchus, as
the Romans called him)
was the god of wine and
fertility. Every year the
Greeks held a number of
festivals in his honor. On
these occasions, the
worship of Dionysus took
the form of a combination
of dance and song,
accompanied by music
and wine.
itsa.ucsf.edu/.../greece/ hetairai/dionysus.jpg
Aeschylus

These festivals, at first
improvised in a spirit of
lively religious fervor,
became formalized in the
seventh century BCE. The
first great writer for this
theater was Aeschylus,
who lived from 525-426
BCE; he is considered the
father of Greek Tragic
Drama.
itsa.ucsf.edu/.../greece/ hetairai/dionysus.jpg
Sophocles

The first great rival of
Aeschylus was
Sophocles, who
appeared in annual
theatrical
competitions
beginning in 471 BCE.
ball.tcnj.edu/pols270/plato/ tour/gallery.htm
Oedipus Rex

Oedipus Rex was first
staged in 429 BCE as
one of a group of
plays presented at the
City Dionysia.
www.alumni.utah.edu/continuum/ fall00/crazy.htm
Dramatic Contests

Three days were set aside for these
dramatic contests; each competitor wrote
three plays (hence the name trilogy),
which usually dealt with tragic events
befalling one family. The dramatist was
also expected to write a fourth play—a
humorous, satiric drama dealing with the
same or loosely related material. The four
plays together made up a tetralogy.
Greek Chorus

The Greek tragedies of
Aeschylus, Sophocles,
and Euripides—and the
comedies of
Aristophanes—included a
CHORUS. The chorus of
tragedies was composed
of fifteen men who were
all highly trained in
“declamation,” music, and
dancing. In the comedies,
the chorus numbered
about twenty four.
www.greeklandscapes.com/ greece/delphi.html
Audience

All citizens, however poor, were entitled to
see the plays. The audience was
composed of all classes of society except
slaves, and totaled between fifteen and
twenty thousand spectators.
A Public Spectacle

Greek theater was a
public spectacle—a
kind of cross between
Inauguration Day, the
Super Bowl, the
Academy Awards,
Memorial Day, and a
major religious
holiday.
www.videotek.com/HiRes/ photos.html
www.toto.net/kcfilms/ focus15.html
Agora

Plays were first
produced in the
AGORA
(marketplace), which
often served as a
performance place for
festivals in Athens
and elsewhere.
www.3dgrafix.net/gallery.htm
The Acropolis

The size and
importance of the City
Dionysia, however,
required a separate
site, and a theater
was built on the slope
of the Acropolis, near
the precinct of
Dionysus.
www.csbsju.edu/.../grecoromn/ pics/acropolis.jpg
The Original Theater

The original theater, a
ring of wooden seats
facing a circular floor,
was later refined,
enlarged, and
constructed of stone.
www.thecolefamily.com/italy/ pompeii/slide70.htm
The Amphitheater

By the time of Aeschylus,
Euripides, Sophocles, and
Aristophanes, the
Athenian theater had
achieved its basic design:
a circular floor for
dancing and acting,
ringed by a hillside
AMPHITHEATER and
backed by a low,
rectangular building.
www.rootsweb.com/.../ca/alameda/ postcards/ppcs-alameda.html
Theater and Civic Life

The experience of theater in classical
Athens was in some ways akin to
participation in other institutions of civic
life; attendance at City Dionysia was like
other aspects of public life in Athens—a
privilege and an obligation mainly
reserved for citizens.
Athenian Tribes

At the theater, citizens sat together with
members of their tribe. In a way, the
theater mirrored the organization of
Athenian society because the tribes
formed the basis for political participation
outside the theater.
Fifth-Century Athens

The fifth century BCE was the era of
Athens’ greatest political power and
cultural vitality and an era of intense
reciprocity between Athenian theater and
society.
Influence of Greek Theater

Theater became one of
Greece’s most widely
disseminated cultural
products. When
Alexander the Great
conquered Greece, the
Near East, and northern
Africa, he took Greek
culture—including theater
and drama—with him
throughout his empire.
www.e-grammes.gr/flags_en.htm