GREEK DRAMA
Public Ritual and Spectacle
from … SCHOLES
ROMANCE
TRAGEDY
COMEDY
SATIRE
WHAT IS DRAMA?
 Greek meaning: “to do” or “to act”
 = poetry + prose + fictional narrative
 No narrator to offer meaning or interpretation (limited
views
 Performance = play / text = play
 No two productions are the same

performance is dynamic
THE GREEKS
 Drama’s roots in ancient religious festivals
 Stories about the gods (ex: Dionysius)
 Theatre festival: full day event with critical audiences.
Thesis (“Thespians”) wins play competition in 534 BCE
 Tragedy … from


tragos = “goat”
tragedy =“goat song”
THE GREEKS
cont’d
 Only 3 speaking actors on stage at once

protagonist, deuteragonist, tritagonist
 3 unities: time, place, action



24 hours
1 setting
1 plot: no comic relief or sub-plot
 Chorus


reminds us that men do not have complete control
Sometimes strophe and antistrophe
 Choryphaeus

chorus leader who delivers lines of spoken verse
on behalf of the chorus as a whole
THE GREEKS
 Aristotle on tragedy

drama should “imitate nature”
 Hamartia (hero’s error of judgement due to
ignorance or moral shortcoming)
leads to
 Peripeteia (reversal of fortune) leads to
 Anagnorisis (moment of self recognition) leads to
 Catharsis (audience purgation of emotions: “pity
and fear”)
THE GREEK STAGE
 Theatres (usually) situated on a hill
(amphitheatre) outdoors
 Skene (“scene”)=


1-storey structure used to store costumes and for
entrances/exits
Scenes painted on the side
 Orchestra =

Circular space (apprx 85 ‘ diameter) used as main acting
space
THE GREEK STAGE
FINAL THOUGHTS…
 Public spectacle and ritual
 The stage becomes a place where
our fears, anxieties and desires are
acted out
 Psychological functionality: theatre
as therapy
 Theatre critical: vehicle for social and
political commentary