Greek Theatre Essay

Ever since the beginning of time humans have been communicating and expressing their thoughts, ideas and emotions. From this point on these ancient plays have had a lifelong, influential effect on the way drama is viewed and performed.

400 BCE was the birth of Greek theatre (Greek Theatre). There are many preconceived notions on how Greek drama came about. Some ideas are the Storytelling Theory, the Dance Theory, the Great Man Theory, etc. Although some understandings are more factual than others, the Ritual Theory is the most appealing to people. It is said that Greek theatre/drama was an outcome of religious festivals. These festivals were held to honor the Greek god of wine and sexuality/harvest, Dionysus (Greek Theatre, The Ritual Theory). Festivals that took place in Athens usually lasted six days. Around 15,000 people would gather for this

Here, many activities would take place such as sacrificing animals like bulls. Another ceremony would consist of fifty priests, dancing and chanting in goatskins praising their god Dionysus (The Greeks). On one occasion during the Greek theatre festival, there was a chorus which consisted of men and boys. One man, stepped outside the group and spoke aloud to the people by himself. This man, named Thespies was known as the first actor. As tribute to him, today people call actors Thespians. Soon after this occurred the amount of actors and number of chorus people increased significantly (Greek Theatre). And thus Greek drama officially born.

During the festivals, authors would typically submit their plays into contests. The winner would receive money and most importantly, an ivory wreath which symbolizes their victory. The magnificent layout of the theatre buildings