2. Aim of Lesson  To be introduced to Greek Theatre  To understand the plot of The Bacchae  To become acquainted with the characters in The Bacchae  To participate in group devising tasks  To develop your research skills

3. Exploration Notes  What is The Bacchae about?  Who is Euripides, explain how his plays questioned society, give an example of this from ‘The Bacchae.’  Link this to why the play may still be relevant today – consider universal themes within the play  How might audience expectations/responses to the play have changed?  How have the performance conditions changed? Where might it be performed today?

4. Greek Theatre  Is considered to be the founding blocks of western theatre  Highly stylized plays, featuring song and dance  Amphitheatre  Masks  The plays are open to interpretation and the themes are still relevant today

5. Interpretation  It is open to interpretation  National Theatre of Scotland National Theatre of Scotland  Themes of The Bacchae  Opposing Forces  Civilization vs. Savagery  Power Struggles  Racism  Male vs. Female/Androgynous

6. Amphitheatre Spaces created to watch a production. There were no lighting effects and plays were performed in the daytime

7. Inheritance of Words  Theatron – The Greek word for viewing place, gives us the word THEATRE in English  Orchestra – Where the chorus would be, it is now in the place where our musicians would be in a theatre  Skene – Is where the backdrop (SCENERY) and changing rooms would be  Proskenium – Would be a raised stage for the actors to act on. Gives us the word PROSCENIUM in English  Parados – Are the side entrances where the chorus would enter, usually singing their first song, also known as a Parados.

8. Euripides  Bad boy of Greek Theatre, modern in his way of thinking  Wrote characters that were instantly recognisable, transforming Gods into human forms  He questions authority and fascinated by the oppressed: women, barbarians, slaves  His plays make war against the Gods of Olympia  He questions social structures  His Gods are often, unpredictable and impulsive and cruel  He was unpopular with many people, because he questions civilisation itself  A Dramatists role was to not just entertain, but to educate their fellow citizens

9. Athens 480 BC – 400 BC Athens was in its Golden Age, destroying the Persian invaders Civilised society Young men went to school while women did weaving or house work All returned at the end of the day to socialize and eat the evening meal. After the meal would be story telling, music and dancing. Assembly at which only male citizens was permitted to speak and vote

10. Festivals for Dionysus Festivals were created as a way to worship the Gods The god of wine, ritual madness and ecstasy A foreign god Son of Zeus and the mortal Semele Both masculine and feminine Known also as the ‘Bacchus’ Festivals called ‘Dionysia,’ were held twice a year

11. MASK Used to distinguish characters Only men were allowed to act 3 actors on stage at any one time Helped with vocal projection Audience could see characters from a distance

12. Greek Tragedy  The downfall of a noble hero or heroine, usually through some combination of pride, fate and the will of the gods.  The tragic hero’s powerful wish to achieve some goal inevitably encounters limits, usually those of human frailty, flaws in reason, the gods  Split into groups to answer the quiz

13. Practical Task 1: Part One  Read out the synopsis  In groups of split yourselves into the following 5 characters and draw spider diagrams to prepare for the characterisation exercise.

14. Spider Diagram Group One read lines 143 – 179 – What does the text tell us about the Characters Tiresias and Cadmus? Draw a spider diagram outlining their age, potential posture, status, dress, mood, body language, facial expression Group Two read lines 180 -212, What does the text tell us about Pentheus? Draw a spider diagram outlining their age, potential posture, status, dress, mood, body language, facial expression Group Three read lines 49 -73, what does the text tell us about the bacchants? Draw a spider diagram outlining his age, potential posture, status, dress, mood, body language, facial expression Group Four read lines 1 – 41, what does this tell us about Dionysus? Draw a spider diagram outlining his age, potential posture, status, dress, mood, body language, facial expression Group Five read lines 1068 -1086 What does the text tell us about Agave? Draw a spider diagram outlining their age, potential posture, status, dress, mood, body language, facial expression

15. Practical Task One: Part Two  Split into 5 groups, each group represents one character  Think of a 6 poses that represent that character and present to class:  On every beat of the drum hit a different pose  Class to analyse the how well the group showed the characteristics of each character.

16. Practical Task Two: A Tableau of Characters Dionysus  This god of wine, theater and group ecstasy appears mostly in disguise as a beautiful, longhaired, wine- flushed Lydian, the Stranger  Powerful god Pentheus  The king of Thebes, son of Agave, grandson of Cadmus and the first cousin of Dionysus  He is a preserver of law and order, a military man, a stern patriarch. He is not merely a mirror or inverted double of Dionysus; he is puritanical and obstinate, but also curious and voyeuristic.

17. A Tableau of Characters Tiresias  A famous old Theban seer and friend of Cadmus. Tiresias persuades Cadmus to worship Dionysus. Cadmus  Former king of Thebes, father of Agave and Semele, grandfather of Pentheus and Dionysus.  Cadmus is the only one in his family to declare allegiance to Dionysus.

18. A Tableau of Characters Agave  Mother of Pentheus and daughter of Cadmus. Agave is already one of the maenads (a worshipper of Dionysus participating in orgiastic rites, from the Greek maenad to be mad) at the start of the play. The Bacchants  Devoted followers of Dionysus

19. Practical Task Two  Now the 5 groups mix, so that you have all of the characters in one group. You create a status line and say a line and perform an action at the same time. This could be to another character

20. Status and Character Practical Task 3  In pairs:  Group 1 Read through Pentheus and Dionysus’ duologue lines 652 – 669  Group 2 read through Pentheus and Dionysus’ duologue lines 670 - 680  Group 3 read through Pentheus and Dionysus’ duologue lines 681 – 694  Thinking about status and characterisation (spider diagram), include proxemics and prepare this part of the script and perform back.