Greek Theatre
Greek History
2500 - 500 BC
2500 BC
Whose got the power?
Egypt
Near
East
Where’s the Greece?
Minoan civilization
Most prevalent in the Aegean Area
Lived on the Isle of Crete
1400 BC - MAJOR EARTHQUAKE
destroys Crete cities
Focus moves North to Mainland of Greece
Culture greatly influences cities of Mycenae
and Troy
1100 BC
DARK AGES
1100 - 800 BC
The Dawn of Greek Civilization
800 BC - 500 BC
Greek Civilization
Begins to Take Shape
polis
“City State”
Important
Greek Cities
Attica (Athens)
Corinth
Sparta
Thebes
City state facts
Originally ruled by Kings
After 800 BC Nobles began to acquire
considerable power and control
These “tyrants” did much to improve social
conditions and promote the arts
Peisistratus dominated Athens from 560-510 BC
Established numerous festivals including the Festival of
Dionysia
By the late 6th Century BC Greeks grew weary of
tyrants and prevent them from gaining power
508 BC
Greece creates the
world’s first…
508 BC
democracy
Greek Theatre
The origins of
Comedy & Tragedy
700 BC
GREEKS
LEARN TO
WRITE
WRITTEN records
increase but those
relating to the
Theatre were rare
until 534 BC
534 BC
Athens institutes a
contest for the
best tragedy at the
City of Dionysis
(a Major Religious
Festival)
Thespis
is credited
with the
first win
Therefore,
Most scholars
consider him
the inventor
of drama
Tragedy
Taken from the Greek …
Goat
Song
Aristotle said
Tragedy
evolved out
of the
improvisations
by the leader
of the
dithyrambs
What’s a
dithyramb?
It was the hymn sung and
danced in honor of
Dionysis, the greek god of
wine and fertility
Greek Theatre
Comedy
Origins of comedy
From the Greek word KOMOS
Based on religious ceremonies connected
with fertility rites
Actors wore grotesque costumes and
performed using wild gestures
Around 570 BC these actions become
organized
Susaron believed to have written the first
comedy
Styles of Comedy
Old Comedy
Middle Comedy
New Comedy
Structure of
Comedy
Old Comedy (570 - 404)
The
“HAPPY IDEA”
The Happy Idea
Usually wild and impractical
The chorus enters and debates the Happy
Idea which includes a direct address to the
audience of the views of the playwright
A series of farcical scenes attempting to
implement the happy idea which usually
concludes with some merrymaking
Middle Comedy
(404 - 321)
Development connected to the downfall
of Athens during the Peloponnesian War
Chorus has a lesser role
Political commentary removed
Stories and characters become somewhat
uniform
No scipts of this time period remain
New Comedy
Appears during the last quarter of the 4th
Century
Comic form most copied by the Romans
Structure closely resembles the structure of
modern plays (5 Act Structure)
Characters drawn from contemporary
Athens
Last form of theatre to emerge from Athens
shows the cynicism prevalent after the city’s
decline
Satyr play
Entered into the Dionysian Festival
around 500 BC
Accompanied the trilogy
Written as pure entertainment usually
mocking the theme of the previous
plays
The chorus was portrayed as Satyrs
Very little is known about this form of
Greek Theatre
Greek Theatre
The Playwrights
Tragedy in the
5th Century
What we know about Greek Tragedy is
based solely on three playwrights
They are representative of other
playwrights
However from over a 1,000 plays written
during that time period, only 31 still exist
The Tragic
Playwrights
Aeschylus
Sophocles
Euripides
Aeschylus (523 - 456)
Oldest of surviving Greek Playwrights
Thought to have written 80 plays, only
7 survive including the Oresteia trilogy
(Agamemnon, Libation Bearers, and
Eumenides)
Introduced the Second actor
The most “theatrical” of the tragedians
Sophocles (496 - 406)
Wrote over 120 plays, 7 survived including
Antigone, Electra, and Oedipus Rex
Won 24 Dionysian festivals, never lower than
2nd
Introduced the 3rd actor, after Aeschylus used 3
No elaborate visual effects, placed increased
emphasis on the individual character
Considered the most skillful of all the Greek
tragedians
Euripides (480 - 406)
Wrote about 90 plays, 18 survived including
Medea, The Trojan Women, and Orestes
Popular in later cultures but not during his
lifetime because his plays were thought
unsuitable for the stage & too undignified for
tragedy
Badly written, compared to Sophocles &
Aeschylus
Use of melodrama and sentimentality were
signs of what was to come in the 4th Century
The Comic
Playwrights
Aristophanes
&
Menander
Aristophanes (448 - 380)
What we know of Old Comedy comes from
his writings
Wrote 40 plays 11 survive including Frogs,
Lysistrata, & Birds
Characters come from all classes of
Athenians commenting on contemporary
society, politics, literature, & war
With Athen’s defeat by Sparta, his style of
writing becomes less popular
Menander (342 - 292)
Playwright of the New Comedy Period
Wrote about 100 plays 11 exist
Grew up in Macedonian controlled Athens
Chorus no longer important - group of performers
who appear between scenes (5 Act Structure)
Stock characters taken from everyday life in
contemporary dress - not mythic
Not considered great playwright but works
influenced Roman playwrights Plautus & Terence
Modern Theatre can trace its roots to Menander
THE END