The Golden Age of
Ancient Greek Theatre
the origins of drama
The Origins Of Drama
The dithyrambs celebrating
Dionysus soon evolved into
dramas.
 The story goes: Thespis, a popular
writer of Dithyrambs, is said to
have invented drama when he
asked one “performer” to stand
outside the chorus to engage in
some “call and response.”
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Word Origin
The modern word
“thespian” comes
from the name
Thespis.
Because of the dithyrambic
origins of Greek drama, the
plays featured Choruses.
 The chorus danced and either
sung or chanted their lines.

The Chorus
Functions of the chorus
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an agent: gives advice, asks, takes part
establishes ethical framework, sets up
standard by which action will be judged
ideal spectator - reacts as playwright hopes
audience would
sets mood and heightens dramatic effects
adds movement, spectacle, song, and
dance
rhythmical function - pauses / paces the
action so that the audience can reflect.
The modern word “drama”
comes from the Greek word
dran meaning "to do”
 The Greeks understood the
role of action in plays.
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Word Origin
The
Theatre
of
Dionysus
The first plays were performed in the
Theatre of Dionysus, built in the shadow of
the Acropolis in Athens at the beginning of
the 5th century,
 These theatres proved to be so popular they
soon spread all over Greece.

Amphitheatres
Plays were performed out-of-doors.
The side of the mountain was scooped out
into a bowl shape, something like our
amphitheatres today, and tiers of stone
seats in concentric semi-circles were built
on the hill.
 These theatres often seated as many as
20,000 spectators, with a special first row
being reserved for dignitaries.
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Theatron
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The theatron (literally, "viewing-place")
is where the spectators sat. The
theatron was usually part of hillside
overlooking the orchestra, and often
wrapped around a large portion of the
orchestra.

The modern word “theater”
comes from the Greek word
theatron meaning "seeing
place"
Word Origin
Orchestra

The orchestra (literally, "dancing space") was
normally
circular. It was
a level space
where the chorus
would dance, sing,
and interact with
the actors who were on the stage (called the
Proskenion) in front of the skene. In the
center of the orchestra there was often an
altar.
Skene

The skene (literally,
"tent") was the
building directly in
back of the stage, and
was usually decorated
as a palace, temple,
or other building,
depending on the
needs of the play. It
had at least one set
of doors, and actors
could make entrances
and exits through
them.
Parados

The parodoi (literally, "passageways") are
the paths by which the chorus and some
actors (such as those representing
messengers or people returning from
abroad) made their entrances and exits.
The Actors
All of the actors were men.
Women were not allowed to
participate.
 The actors played multiple roles,
so a wooden, cork, or linen mask
was used to show the change in
character or mood.
 If playing a female role, the male
actor in want of a female
appearance wore the prosternida
before the chest and the
progastrida before the belly

Working in the Space
Because of the distance between
actors and the audience, the
actors, who were all men, used
broad gestures and histrionic
speech.
 The actor made himself taller by
wearing thick-soled shoes called
cothurnis and a high head piece
called an onkus.
 The masks assisting in projecting
the actor’s voice through a type of
inside megaphone.
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Costumes
Consisted of standard Greek attire
Chiton: a sleeveless tunic belted below the
breast
 the himation: draped around the right
shoulder
 the chlamys, or short cloak, worn over the left
shoulder
 elaborately embroidered patterns
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Costuming
Staging was accomplished simply with the
use of pinakes, or scenery painted on
boards and placed against the skene.
 Also periaktois, triangular prisms, that
could be revolved for scenery changes.
 Properties were also used.
 Drums were sounded for thunder.
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Staging
the eccyclema, a small wagon platform,
was wheeled in to show a corpse to the
audience. All killing had to occur off stage
and be reported to the audience by the
chorus or a messenger.
 The deus-ex-machina was a crane-like
device occasionally used for lowering in a
god to assist the protagonist in neatly
solving his problems.
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Staging, Cont’d.
The City Dionysia Festival
In the sixth century BC, the Athenian
ruler, Pisistratus, established the 'City
Dionysia', a festival of entertainment
held in honor of the god Dionysus.
 This festival featured competitions in
music, singing, dance and poetry.
 Playwrights presented a series of three
tragedies, or a trilogy.
 Interspersed between the three plays in
the trilogy were satyr plays
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The entire city would be in attendance.
 All other businesses not directly involved
with the 6-day festival would shut down,
so that everyone could attend.
 The government even offered financial
assistance to those who could not afford
to attend.
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Communal Involvement
Types of Greek Drama
Comedy
 Tragedy
 Satyr
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Comedy and tragedy were the most popular
types of plays in ancient Greece. Hence, the
modern popularity of the comedy and
tragedy masks to symbolize theatre.
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Word Origin
The word
“comedy” comes
from the Greek
word “komos”
which means
“band of revelers.”
not admitted to Dionysus festival until
very late into the Greece’s golden age---487 b.c.
 The first comedies were mainly satirical
and mocked men in power for their vanity
and foolishness
 The first master of comedy was the
playwright Aristophanes
 Style: exaggerated, farcical, focus on
sensual pleasures

Comedies
Prologue — leading character conceives a
"happy idea"
 Parados: entrance of the chorus
 Agon: dramatized debate between
proponent and opponent of the "happy
idea"
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Structure of a Comedy
Parabasis: chorus
addresses
audience on poet’s
views on topic
 Episodes: "Happy
idea" is put to
practical
application
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Structure, Cont’d
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Tragedy
The word tragedy
came to be
derived from the
Greek tragos
(goat) and ode
(poem). Tragedy
literally means
goat song or goat
poem.
Late point of attack
Violence and death occurred offstage
Frequently used messengers to relate
information
 Stories based on myth or history, but
varied interpretations of events
 Focus was on psychological and ethical
attributes of characters, rather than
physical and sociological.
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Traits of Tragedy
structure of a tragedy
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Prologue, which describes the situation and
sets the scene
Parados, an ode sung by the chorus as it
made its entrance
Five dramatic scenes, or episodes--the last
of which is called the Epilogue
Each episode is followed by a stasimon, a
choral ode, an exchange of laments by the
chorus and the protagonist. (This ode is
sometimes called a komos.)
Exodus, the climax and conclusion
Satyr Plays
These were short plays
performed between the
acts of tragedies. They
made fun of the plight
of the tragedy's
characters.
 The satyrs were
mythical half-human,
half-goat servants of
Dionysus.
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Word Origin

Does the term Satyr
remind you of any
modern day term?

The Satyr and the Satyr
plays spawned the
modern word “satire”.
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Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
Aristophanes
Menander
Important Playwrights
Considered the “father of greek tragedy”
 Famous works: Prometheus Bound; Seven
Against Thebes; The Oresteia (a trilogy
consisting of: agamemnon, the libation
bearers, and the eumenides)
 His plays feature a chorus and one actor.
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Aeschylus (525-456 bc)
Death by tortoise
Aeschylus has one of the strangest claims to
fame. He was bald, and the story goes that a
passing eagle, looking for a rock on which to
drop and crack open a tortoise in order to eat
it, dropped it on him by mistake, killing him
outright. The fate of the tortoise was not
recorded.
Sophocles
(496-406 bc)
His plays are more characterdriven rather than choric
 He is credited with adding a third
character
 His works include: Oedipus Rex;
Antigone; Electra
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The Final Curtain
By the time of Sophocles' death in 406
BC the golden era of Greek drama was
ending.
 Athens was overrun in 404 BC by the
Spartans, and was later torn apart by
constant warring with other city states,
eventually falling under the dominion of
Alexander the Great and his
Macedonian armies.
 Theatre went on but did not return to
the same creative heights until
Elizabethan England two millennia later.
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Euripides trousers,
Eumenides trousers.