Theatre History
GREECE (5th Century BC or BCE) Golden age of Greece—the arts flourished Polytheistic-- rituals in honor of the gods. 1st contest of theatre 534 BCE It was sponsored by the government It was both religious ritual and community event Lasted 5 days
Aristotle’s Six Elements of Drama Plot Character Theme/Thought Language/Diction Music Spectacle
Theatre aspects All Male audience Competitions had both Tragedies and Comedies—but kept separate Major Playwrights of tragedies were Aeschylus Sophocles Euripides Oldest surviving text of these plays is from around 1100 AD or CE
Plays Plots were based on well known stories (audience already knew what was going to happen) CHORUS—group of 10-15, acting as one voice, a spectator of events, and a commentator, voice of reason. All male actors Only three actors and a chorus Scenes involved characters interacting with a chorus
Antigone by Sophocles Sophocles is the most successful, generally considered the “best” Greek playwright Wrote 120 plays—only 7 survived His plays focus on character and complex struggles His major plays include: Antigone Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King) Oedipus at Colonus 3rd play in a series
Antigone Characters Tiresias Antigone Creon Eurydice Haemon Polynices; Eteocles Messenger Ismene
City of Dionysia FESTIVAL Held in the spring 5 days Religious festival and civic celebration Showcase of Power of Athens Financed by wealthy citizens and by government Plays chosen 11 months in advance Three plays a day (3 days) Tragedies, comedies, and satyr plays Theatres hold between 14,000-20,000 audience members
theatres
Theatre design Ekkyklema--- a device used to reveal the bodies of offstage violence
Technical theatre Lights—natural light outside during the day Sound– natural acoustics, music (flute) dancing rhythm Sets— the skene served as a neutral backdrop; plus spoken décor Ekkyklema-revealed dead bodies Machina- crane that would make characters/objects fly Costumes—native Greek everyday wear Special costumes to signify foreigners, gods etc. MASKS
MASKS Chorus would wear similar plain masks to identify them as members of the chorus Characters had masks that represented them
Catharsis Catharsis: the purgation of emotions (pity and fear) brought about by watching tragedy Pity that it happened to them and hope it doesn’t happen to you.
Modern productions of Greek Tragedies Adaptations Antigone by Jean Anouilh –created during WWII in France during the Nazi Occupation Antigone by Bertolt Brecht – adaptation, right after WWII set Creon as Hitler