DRAMA, GREEK
however, did serve to strengthen Athens as a political unit. For the first
time, murder cases had to be submitted for public trial, ending much feuding and bloodshed. (See also Law, Greek.)
DRAMA, GREEK
* classical relating to the civilization of ancient
Greece and Rome
* Renaissance period of the rebirth of interest
in classical art, literature, and learning that
occurred in Europe from the late 1300s through
the 1500s
* deity god or goddess
* epic long poem about legendary or historical
heroes, written in a grand style
' hero in mythology, a person of great strength
or ability, often descended from a god
D
rama of the Western world was born in Greece. People throughout
the ancient Mediterranean world imitated Greek plays and Greek
methods of performing plays on stage. Centuries later, when Europeans rediscovered classical* Greek literature during the Renaissance*,
educated people regarded the Greek plays as the model of dramatic perfection. Even in the modern era, writers and actors have been influenced by
the traditions of ancient Greek drama, as well as by specific Greek plays.
ORIGINS OF GREEK DRAMA. The origins of Greek drama lie in religious
celebrations honoring the Greek deities* during festivals or on holy days.
Many of these celebrations included elements of acting and stagecraft. For
example, each year priests at the shrine of Eleusis, near Athens, reenacted
the death and resurrection of the goddess PERSEPHONE. Many festivals honored DIONYSUS, the god of wine and fertility. These festivals were accompanied by banquets, where singers led crowds in improvised songs, called
dithyrambs. A chorus, a group of dancers and singers, accompanied these
celebrations. As the dithyramb was chanted, the chorus would perform a
circular dance around the altar of Dionysus. Both large cities and smaller
communities had choruses. Eventually, local poets began writing accounts of the adventures of the gods and goddesses for the choruses to recite. During festivals, professional storytellers also recited the Iliad and the
Odyssey, HOMER'S epics*.
At some point, the emphasis shifted from reciting stories about the
gods to acting them out. According to Greek legend, a performer named
Thespis invented the art of acting when he stepped forward from the chorus and sang by himself, not about the god but as the god. Whether or not
he single-handedly created the new art form, there was a real actor and
playwright named Thespis who performed in Athens in the 500s B.C. Actors
today are called thespians to honor his legendary contribution to drama.
Greek drama developed further as poets began writing scenes for performers to act out. Many of these scenes involved legendary or historical
heroes* and kings as well as deities. The drama combined traditional
recitations and songs by the chorus with actions and speeches by individual actors. Actors wore masks and used words and gestures that enabled
the audience to identify familiar characters. By the early 400s B.C., Greek
drama had evolved into two distinct kinds of plays, tragedies and comedies,
written for and performed at competitive drama festivals. All surviving examples of Greek drama were originally written for the festivals in Athens.
TRAGEDY. Tragedies were serious plays dealing with the sufferings and
trials of noble or heroic characters. Most tragedies concerned mythological or historical figures. Playwrights attempted to create suspense, to manipulate the audience's feelings of pity and fear, and to illustrate moral
truths. The subject matter of a tragic play would have been familiar to the
17
DRAMA,GREEK
e
color plate8,
vol. 3
audience andwould probably have been usedby
other playwrights.
For
example, threedifferentplaywrights wrote dramas concerning
the
legendary storyof
ORESTES
how murdered
hismother.
The
playwright's originality lay in how headapted such well-known tales
and
introduced
new
meanings andpointsofviewto theaudience. Through tragic drama, playwrights and audiences grappled with large, complex issues, such
as the
nature ofdivinity,justice, heroism,
anddestiny
Only 33 plays remain
fromthegolden
age of
Greek tragedy
in the
400sB.C. Most
of these
AESCHYLUS,
plays
by EURIPIDES
SOPHOCLES,
andsurvived because, several centuries
afterthey were written, critics
in the
Egyptian cityofAlexandriaandelsewhere chose
them
for
inclusion
in
schoolbooks.
After Thespis,theGreeks regarded Aeschylus
as the
second
father ofdrama.Hisplays dealt with large, philosophic questions, such
as
the natureofvirtueandjustice,
and heusually wrote aboutfigures
great
from the remote, mythical past.Aeschylus's
plays
are
noted
for
their
majestic language. Sophocles,on theother hand, wrote plays that focused
on
human interactions. Sophocles introduced
third
a
actor
in his
plays
(Aeschylushadused only two),
and his
plays have well-developed characters andskillfullyconstructed dramatic action. Euripedes
known
is for his
realistic style, althoughhe was notwidely appreciated
in his own
day.
Euripides criticizedandquestioned contemporary values
beliefs
and
by using the traditional
Greekmyths
andlegends.
COMEDY. Comedies were humorous plays
set
mostly
invented
in
situations rather thanin theworld
ofmyth
orlegend.
Although
formally
added
18
DRAMA, GREEK
* satire literary technique that uses wit and
sarcasm to expose or ridicule vice and folly
* polls in ancient Greece, the dominant form of
political and social organization; a city-state
to the Athenian dramatic festivals in 486 B.C., comedies probably existed
long before that time. The roots of comedy may lie in religious dances or
processions that included people wearing masks or disguises.
The earliest surviving comedies are 11 plays by ARISTOPHANES and date
from the 400s and early 300s B.C. These plays show that satire* was one of
the hallmarks of early Greek comedy, also called Old Comedy Old Comedy
plots were loose and fantastic, shifting wildly between locations. The chorus
might be portrayed as a band of wasps, frogs, or clouds. The plays ridicule
prominent citizens, local politicians, and even the gods. Some poke fun at individuals and situations that the audience would easily have recognized.
By the late 300s B.C., playwrights created works in a new style called
New Comedy. New Comedy plots were less fantastic and more concerned
with situations arising from personal relationships. Popular subjects included romantic love, mistaken identity, and reunions of separated family
members. Humor was rooted not in political or social satire but in the interactions of certain familiar characters—-the bad-tempered old man, the
playboy son, the clever slave, or the boastful soldier. The best examples of
New Comedy are the plays of MENANDER, the leading playwright of the 300s
B.C. and a powerful influence on the Roman comic dramatists PLAUTUS and
TERENCE.
STAGING A PRODUCTION. In fifth-century Athens, tragedies usually had
only one performance in a competition at the spring festival of Dionysus,
after which a panel of citizens awarded a first, second, and third prize. In
order to compete, a poet submitted his work to one of the city's chief
elected officials and "asked for a chorus." If the work was accepted, this
official appointed a choregos. A choregos was a wealthy citizen who agreed
to pay, by way of a special tax, the most costly part of a production—the
recruiting, training, maintaining, and costuming of the chorus. Poets competed with not one, but four plays (known as a tetrology), and so usually
four choruses were needed. Early choruses were large, with as many as 50
members, although later choruses usually had 12 or 15 members. By acting as choregos, an individual was performing an act of public service,
much as if he outfitted a warship for the polis* in time of war.
While costuming the chorus was expensive, the group itself did not
have to be paid. Although actors were appointed and paid separately by
the polis, chorus members were amateur volunteers, drawn from the public at large. They contributed their services as a public duty, just as they
contributed their time and energy to the army or in the law courts.
THE THEATRICAL PERFORMANCE. Because the drama competitions were
part of state-sponsored festivals, attendance was a civic duty. (Scholars
still debate whether or not women were allowed to attend plays.) Outdoor theaters were large, so most of the local population could be
packed into a single performance. Plays were held in daylight; there
were no curtains or lights. The performance was held on a circular orchestra, or floor, with the audience seated on a hillside rising in a semicircle around the orchestra.
Greek drama was a musical experience. The chorus sang, accompanied by flutes and drums. In addition, the actors sang at the emotional
19
DRAMA, GREEK
THE GOD FROM
THEMACHINI
Greek theaters used two mechanical devices in their productions.
One vm a pbtferm that cmrld te
pushed or roiled out onto the
stage. This platform was used for
important pnsps or perhaps even
for m& of tite adesls ttorn*^—
such as a dying character in a
tragedy—so that the audience
might get a better view. The other
device was a crane that swung actors through the air as If they mm
flying, Gods often appeared this
ww* Sonw cities acoisfd playwrights of solving difficult problems In their plots by Mug a god
descend 'tb-.ttt things right The
Latin phrase £/m ex mad/no [the
god from the machine) still refers
to a sudden, unexpected arrival or
soMfoa
* rhetoric art of using words effectively in
speaking or writing
See
color plate 7,
vol. 4.
20
high points of the play. Unfortunately, none of this music has been preserved. In the A.D. 1600s in Europe, the earliest composers of Italian opera
fused acting and singing in the hope of reconstructing the vanished art of
Greek drama.
Dancing, too, played an important role in the Greek plays. The chorus
danced energetically, creating a spectacle of movement that helped interpret the spoken words of the play. These dances were especially important in the largest theaters, such as the Theater of Dionysus at Athens,
which held about 15,000 people. Audience members far from the stage
could not see the actors' gestures, but they could follow the movements
of the chorus.
Besides singing and dancing, the chorus played other roles in the performance. Its members might portray a variety of characters—wise men,
soldiers, people of a city, or whatever the story required. They could also
step out of the action and become narrators, providing additional information about the story or helping viewers interpret what they saw.
Certain aspects of Greek drama remained unchanged for centuries.
For instance, men played all the parts and actors wore masks. Drama
changed in other ways, however. As time went on, the chorus became
smaller, and in New Comedy it almost vanished. Also, stage sets gradually
became more elaborate. Early dramas were performed on a stage that was
empty except for a hut or tent, and the audience sat on all sides of the
stage. Later stage buildings were larger and more magnificent, with audiences sitting only in the front. Revolving panels presented different backgrounds to the audience, indicating changes of scene. Every important city
had its own theater, and a few, such as the ones at SYRACUSE and EPIDAURUS,
still stand today. Where no theater existed, the theatrical company performed on a portable stage.
ACTORS IN ANCIENT GREECE. The early Greek playwrights often wrote,
directed, and acted in their plays. They could hope to win victory wreaths
and small cash prizes at drama competitions. But since it was almost impossible to earn a living as a full-time actor in early Greece, some actors
also worked as teachers of rhetoric*. In a society in which the art of public
speaking was highly regarded, acting was an honored profession, and a
gifted actor could succeed in politics. In addition to their vocal abilities, actors had to possess considerable physical agility, and they often trained as
hard as athletes did.
Beginning in 449 B.C., separate prizes were awarded for actors, distinct
from the awards for dramatists. The first actors' guild, or union, called the
Artists of Dionysus, was formed to negotiate contracts and set standards
for the profession. Prominent actors traveled from festival to festival
throughout the Mediterranean, commanding huge salaries. As the number of professional actors was increasing (even chorus parts were filled
by professionals), the days of the honorable amateur ended, and the status
of actors in Greece slumped. However, centuries after Greece's golden age
of drama in the 400s B.C., theatrical troupes continued to stage the plays of
Euripides and other Greek masters. (See also Drama, Roman; Festivals
and Feasts, Greek; Festivals and Feasts, Roman; Hiad\ Literature, Greek;
Odyssey; Theaters.)