Transcript Dramatic Competitions

Dramatic Competitions
Theater of Dionysus
Role of Drama in Athens
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Comedies and tragedies were performed in the city as
part of an important civic religious festival, the City
Dionysia.
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The festival lasted several days and included several
types of performance, all of which were competitions
for important civic honor and prizes
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Dramas usually focused on the city and city life of
Athens
Role of Drama pt 2
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Audience and most performers were citizens
The judging of the dramatic competitions
followed Athenian democracy—any citizen could
participate
Judges were selected randomly from the
audience (giving the gods a chance to
participate). An urn from each of the 10 tribes
contained the names of citizens eligible to serve
as judges; to prevent bribery, one name was
drawn from each urn at the start of the festival.
The Competitions
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Dithyrambs were performed by two choruses, one composed of 50
men and one of 50 boys, who sung and danced in honor of Dionysus.
Each of the 10 tribes of Athens put on a dithyramb; each set of
choruses was trained and financed by a choregos, a wealthy citizen
who did this as part of his civic duty. The prize went to the choregos and
the tribe he represented.
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Comedies: Initially 3 and eventually 5 comic playwrights, each
presenting one comedy, competed for the comic prize. Comedies were
set in the contemporary era and often caricatured living as well as
fictional Athenians.
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Tragedies and Satyr Plays: Three tragic playwrights, each presenting
3 tragedies and a single satyr play on a separate day, competed for the
prize in tragedy. Like tragedies, satyr plays were set in the mythological
past and featured gods and heroes, but the chorus of the this type of
drama was always composed of satyrs, boisterous, half-animal
companions of Dionysus whose comical predicaments contrasted
with the serious tone of the preceding tragedies.
Structure of Greek Tragedy
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Prologue: Spoken by one or two characters before the chorus appears. The
prologue usually gives the mythological background necessary for
understanding the events of the play.
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Parodos: This is the song sung by the chorus as it first enters the orchestra and
dances.
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First Episode: This is the first of many "episodes", when the characters and
chorus talk.
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First Stasimon: At the end of each episode, the other characters usually leave
the stage and the chorus dances and sings a stasimon, or choral ode. The ode
usually reflects on the things said and done in the episodes, and puts it into
some kind of larger mythological framework.
{NOTE: For the rest of the play, there is alternation between episodes and
stasima, until the final scene.}
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Exodos: At the end of play, the chorus exits singing a processional song which
usually offers words of wisdom related to the actions and outcome of the play.
Dionysus
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The son of Zeus and Semele, a woman of
Thebes
God of wine and madness, vegetation, and
the theatre
Theater performances often had religious
significance in the worship of Dionysus
[punishment for wrongs, tragic death, loss of
identity {masks on actors & chorus}]