GREEK DRAMA
History of Drama
GREEK TIMELINE
 Golden
Age of Greek Drama: 500-400 B.C.
 Called “Golden Age” because it produced
the biggest advances of drama in history.
HOW IT BEGAN…
 Greeks
paid homage
to Dionysus, the god
of wine and fertility.
 Outdoor festival
lasted 3 days.
 Dancing and singing
led to an actor, which
evolved into drama
as we know it.
DIONYSIAN FESTIVALS
4
times a year, spring festival was most
popular
 Business was suspended for one week and
people paid cheap admission.
 Those who could not pay were admitted
free.
 Both sexes invited, only men could act.
 Drama was not recreation, it was sacred
and religious.
DIONYSIAN FESTIVALS
cont…
 Contest
between
authors for Ivy wreath
 Each author presented
3 plays

3 tragedies with same
theme
 Comedy
writers
presented 1 satire, a
comedy with a
chorus of satyrs (half
man/half beast)

Tragedy literally
means “goat song”
THE EVOLUTION OF GREEK
DRAMA
 Thespis
came up with having 1 actor
 If one actor, why not two?
 Sophocles said, if two, why not 3?
THE CHORUS
 Eventually
about 12-15 dancers/actors
 Remained on stage throughout entire play
 Sang choral odes similar to worship liturgy
 Also set forth to introduce characters and
events to audience, such as in Oedipus.
PICTURES OF CHORUS
VIOLENCE ON STAGE
 Ancient
Greek civilization believed that
violence for the sake of violence was “low”
and not worthy of serious consideration.
 Only the aftermath of violence was ever
shown on stage. (Sometimes very gory!)
 Violence could be relayed through dialogue,
but actual acts of violence were not seen.
VIOLENCE ON STAGE
 Aftermath
shown:
 Carts with “dead” bodies on them
(ekkyklema)
 Masks & Costumes reflecting brutality
 Speeches that relayed violent acts were
acceptable.
 Example: Oedipus pokes pins in eyes
offstage, runs out with blood streaming
down face.
CONCESSIONS
 The
plays were performed during festivals,
so people would travel to Athens, and stay
for several days.
 To accommodate the masses, olives, flat
bread, wine, feta/goat cheese, and figs were
sold as concessions.
 People could also bring in their own food!
SCENERY/EFFECTS
– scenery painted on boards and
placed against skene
 “Periaktois” – triangular prisms that could be
revolved for scenery changes
 Drums for thunder
 “Ekkyklema” – wagon to show corpses
 “Pinakes”
DEUS EX MACHINA
[DEY-UH S EKS MAH-KUH-NUH ]
means “God out of the machine”
 Crane apparatus to fly in a god to “save the
day”
 Now Deus ex Machina is a literary term
indicating that a conflict in the story or play
was solved through some kind of divine or
unexpected supernatural intervention.
 Literally
COSTUMING
 Costumes
(Robes)
 Color = status
 Raised Boots
 Made characters
“larger than life”
 Wigs (braided) and
reflective of gender
MASKS
 Worn
by all (chorus
and actors)
 Recognizable
characters
 Made it possible for the
same actor to play
many parts
 Showed character’s
station and emotion
MORE GREEK MASKS
STYLE OF PERFORMANCE





Sing-song quality
Gesturing
Dramatic Pause
Based on previous knowledge or wellknown stories
Rhetorical
 Question format to generate interest
TRAGEDY
= “Goat Song”
 Tragic Hero (180 degree change)
 Tragic Flaw
 Catharsis
“Cleansing or Purging of Emotion”
An extreme emotion
 Tragedy
THESPIS
 First
author to win Dionysian playwriting
prize in 534 B.C.
 Prize-winning play introduced a chorus
leader
 Became first Greek actor
 First began use of masks
 Word “Thespian,” meaning actor, is derived
from his name.
AESCHYLUS (525-456 B.C.)
 Father
of Greek Tragedy
 Came after THESPIS
 Wrote almost 100 plays
(only 7 remain)
 Won Dionysian
playwright prize 13 times
 Warrior at Battle of the
Marathon
AESCHYLUS CONT.
 Invented
the trilogy
 Added 2nd actor to Thespis’ first
 Reduced Chorus from 60 to 12
 Enjoyed a spectacle, had dramatic deaths
and frightening masks in plays
SOPHOCLES
 Wrote
123 plays (7
remain)
 Made the Chorus the
“Frame of Action”
 Wrote famous Oedipus
Trilogy
 Increased Chorus from
12-15
 (497-406 B.C.)
SOPHOCLES, CONT.
 Handsome,
well-educated, well-rounded
 Musician, singer, athlete, politician, warrior.
 Won 18 Dionysian Festivals
 Introduced 3rd actor
 Literary genius, skilled in language, plot,
and character portrayal.
EURIPIDES (485-406 B.C.)
 Great
Humanizer (characters were more
human and prone to error; less god-like)
 First Modern – Challenged accepted ideals
 Deus ex Machina (stage crane)
 Prologue by god or main character
 Trap doors (more spectacle)!
 Wrote “Medea,” about a woman driven mad
with jealousy
ARISTOPHANES & MENANDER
 450-380
B.C.
 Considered finest
Greek comedy writer
 Wrote satires of wellknown tragedies
 Wrote about social
aspects
 342-291
B.C.
 Unlike Aristophanes,
wrote about domestic
issues (servants,
relatives, family
figures)
 Copied by Roman
writers
 Little work exists today
ARISTOTLE’S BOOK
POETICS
6
parts—plot, characters, thought, diction,
melody, spectacle
 Rules:
 1. Tragedy should provide “catharsis,”
spiritual purge, to urge the audience to
live moral lives
 2a. Hero should be a nobleman or a god
 2b. Hero should possess a TRAGIC
FLAW: a character trait or a failure in
judgment that brings disaster
ARISTOTLE’S BOOK
“POETICS”
 3.
There must be a
change in fortune
 4. The plays should
be written in poetry
 5. The plot must
conform to the three
unities
 The
Three Unities:
 Time – play’s action
occurs in REAL time
 Action – all action
centers around MAIN
CHARACTER; no
subplots
 Place – action occurs in
one locale