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Ancient Greek Theater and Acting
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Aristotle said that theatre originated from people impersonating others.
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Aristotle’s Six Elements of Drama:
o Plot: what happens in a play
o Theme: what the play means
o Character: a role played by an actor in the play
o Language: the word choices made
o Music/Rhythm: the sound, rhythm, and melody of the speeches.
o Spectacle: the visual elements of the production of a play.
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Theatre first appeared at the Dionysus Festival, which was held in honor
of Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, theatre and partying.
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Four qualities of Greek Drama:
o Festivals
o Competition
o Chorus
o Religious
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Plays were based on mythology and historical events.
Greek Tragedy:
Greek Comedy:
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Violence and death offstage
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Stories based on myth or
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Masks were used
history
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Chorus
Theme: Sometimes chance
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Gesture and movement were
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rules the world
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Only used 3 actors.
made bigger and simpler.
Label the parts of a Greek Theater:
Word Bank:
Orchestra
Skene
Parados
Theatron
Definitions:
Orchestra: “dancing place;” circular acting area
Skene: a permanent building at the back of the orchestra; represented
scenery/setting
Parados: the pathway used by the actors and chorus for their entrances and exits.
Theatron: “seeing place;” audience seating.
Actors and Acting
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The first actor was Thespis. He stepped out from the chorus reciting poetry
and invented acting.
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Acting Styles:
o Men played all the parts. No women were allowed to be in the Greek
drama.
o They used masks.
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
To make voices louder.
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To make facial features larger.
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So each actor could play many parts.
The Chorus:
o Function
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To explain the current situation
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To bring the audience up to date
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To comment on the action
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To engage in dialogue with the actors and offer them advice.
o Consisted of 3 to 50 men.
o Represented citizens of whatever was king in play
o Sung and danced
o All wore same mask
Roman:
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55 B.C.: The first stone theater was built in Rome by the order of Julius
Caesar.
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Much more entertaining than Greek theatre.
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Theatre held at religious festivals.
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Festivals were held in honor of the gods, but much less religious than in
Greece.
Roman Theater Influcences
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Greek Drama
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Circus-like elements
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Farce (short unplanned make-believe situations with stock characters)
Forms of Roman Drama
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Pantomime
o Solo dance with music and chorus
o Used masks, story-telling, and mythology and historical stories
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Mime
o Spoken
o No masks
o *Women were actors in the mime*
o Violence was shown on stage
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Tragedy
o Interest in morality
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Goodness, honesty
o Violence was shown on stage
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Comedy
o Based on Greek comedies
o Slapstick: broad comedy marked by wild action, as the throwing of pies
in actors' faces, mugging, and obvious silly situations and jokes.
Parts of a Roman Theater
Definitions
Scaena: the stage house or building behind the stage; related to the Greek skene
Orchestra: semi-circular space between the audience and the stage
Cavea: audience seating area; related to the Greek theatron
Architecture
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First permanent Roman theater was built in 54 A.D.
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Had stadium-style seating
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The Colosseum was built in 80 A.D. and was three stories tall.
Acting and Acting Styles:
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Mostly male actors, though women were in mimes.
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Mimes were considered lower than actors in status.
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Style of Acting:
o Tragedy: slow, stately delivery of lines
o Comedy: more rapid and conversational delivery of lines
o The mimes did not use masks.
o Used a chorus in much the same way the Greeks did