ANTIGONE

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ANTIGONE

HISTORY OF GREEK THEATRE

25 hundred years ago, two thousand years before Shakespeare, western

theatre was born in Athens Greece. Between 600 and 200bc the ancient

Athenians created a theatre culture whose form, technique and

terminology have lasted to millennia and they created plays that are

still considered amongst the greate3st works of world drama. By 600bc

Greece was divided into two states. The most prominent city state was

Athens where at least 150,000 people live. It was there that the rites

of Dionysus evolved into what we know today as theatre. Dionysus was

cult that arose in northern Greece. Since Greek and Attica theatre are

sometimes referred to as attic theatre. Sometime during the next 75yrs

thepis of Attica added on an actor who interacted with the chorus. The

actor was called the protagonist, from which the modern word

protagonist is derived meaning the main character of drama. An

important part of Dionysus was dithyrambs which meant chronic hymn.

This chant or hymn was probably introduced accompanied by mimic

gestures and probably music. It began as part of a purely religious

ceremony.

MASK/CHOROUS

Plays where performed in day time. The annual drama competitions in

Athens spread over several entire days. Actors probably wore little or

no make up. Instead they carried masks with exaggerated facial

expressions. They also wore buskins which were leather boots laced up

to the knees. There was little or no scenery. Initially, most of the

acting took place in the orchestra. Later as the importance shifted

from chorus to the characters, the action moved to the stage.

UNDERSTANDING MY CHARACTER

Choosing to play the part of a man didn’t seem a big deal to me even

though this character I was to play was a king. I thought I could

easily relate to the character even though I am not a man but during

my character development process I started finding it more difficult

to get into the role. I decided at this point that if I was going to

play this character properly I would need some help and practice. My

character Creon comes across as a very strong character and quite

arrogant to a certain extent. I thought to get an insight into my

characters personality and mind set I would put myself in a higher

position than everyone else, I would act as if every one around me

were peasants. I tried to do this for a couple of hours at first I did

get it right and I managed to carry myself graciously but lost it

after a wile. Later in the evening I was watching TV and then it

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