Theatre originated in ancient Greece, with ancient hymns that honored the Greek god of wine, Dionysius called dithyrambs, these were often sung at festivals celebrating Dionysius. The word drama also originates from ancient Greece, it stems from the word dran, meaning to do.
Early Greek theatre was most likely performed in areas such as open city spaces, but throughout the centuries as it became more popular it evolved into taking place in large theatres that could seat hundreds or even thousands. These outdoor theatres contained many different areas, including the theatron, where all of the viewers of the play would sit (also where we get the word theater from). The orchestra, literally meaning dancing space, which was where the play was performed. The Skene, meaning tent, was the backstage of the theatre, often decorated
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as a castle, it always had at least one entrance/exit. The Parados, meaning passageways, was where many chorus and main actors would make their entrances and exits from. The audience also used these to enter and exit the theater. The first major plays took place in the Theatre of Dionysius. Built in the shadow of the acropolis, this theatre housed plays so popular that many theatres just like it began to spread throughout Greece. So, why was Dionysius, of all the high and mighty Greek Gods honored with theatre? Well Dionysius was the only God that was born of a mortal. He was the God of Wine, Fertility, and Revelry. According to Greek legend, as a child he was raised by Satyrs (half man, half goat) and was eventually killed and dismembered, but he was eventually resurrected. Most Gods had mighty temples meant for worship, the cult of Dionysius met in the woods. Dionysius was believed to liberate and inspire man. It was also believed that he was able to endow men with great creativity, thus making Dionysius the perfect patron God of the arts. In the 6th century BC, the Athenian ruler Pisistratus created the “City Dionysia”, a massive festival of arts held to honor the god Dionysius. These featured many competitions in the arts, such as music, singing, dancing, and poetry. The greatest of all the competitors was said to be a wandering Bard named Thespis. Thespis was so great that a good actor was known to be of Thespian talent, this is where we get Thespian from. The Ancient Greek drama was much simpler than dramas nowadays, but still had many complexities. There also existed a Choral, which was anywhere from 3 to 50 men that sang and danced and moved the story along. Mist stories were based on either ancient myths or history. Plays in ancient Greece consisted of the same basic three things that make up plays today: the play, the actors, and the chorus (see choral). Even back then, awards were given to the plays that rose above the rest. The actors in ancient Greek plays were strictly male, women weren't allowed to participate for various reasons. But this did not stop them from having female roles in the play, if a man was to play a woman he would wear a prosterneda over his chest, and a progastreda over the belly. Typically, each actor played multiple roles, so masks were used to display differences in characters and moods. All gestures and movements were very controlled and stately so that the audience could better understand them. One of the most influential masters of the arts in all of history, ancient Greek or not, was Sophocles. He lived from 496 B.C. to 406 B.C. in Greece. He was born into the family of a wealthy merchant, and thus was able to enjoy all of the luxuries and comforts of Greece. At 16 years old he was chosen to lead a group of choir boys at a celebration of victory in Salamis. At the age of 28, his training and studying of the arts was complete and he was ready to compete in the “City Dionysia”. In the City Dionysia competitions, Sophocles was wildly successful and won 24 times, never finishing worse than 2nd. Many plays of his explored subjects such as the relationships of God's and Human fate, Tragic Irony, The contrast between human ignorance and human fate, and the importance of free will and moral choice. Every character of his, even if hopeless embodies certain moral ideals of mankind. His plays portrayed humans as they ought to be, and he suggested that evil and moral failures stemmed from the ignorance of man. Sophocles’ plays often focused on individual characters, often complex physiologically and we'll motivated.
Characters would often encounter crisis involving self recognition and realizing a higher law above man. Scenes were suspenseful and ended in perfect climaxes. The action was logical and the poetry was clear and beautiful. The play’s focused on the picture painted by the words and the story, and often didn't include elaborate visual effects. Sophocles always put an emphasis on his theme, which was always the choices of mankind. By the time of Sophocles’ death in 406 B.C. (which was 128 years after Thespis’ first victory at the first Athenian drama competition) the golden age of the ancient Greek theatre was coming to a close. Athens, whose free thinking society had birthed theatre, would be overrun by the Spartans in 404 B.C. in the Peloponnesian war. After which, it would be at constant war with other city states until it was conquered by the Greek King, Alexander III of Macedon, more commonly known as Alexander the Great. Theatre continued on, but it wouldn't return to its former glory until Elizabethan England around 2 millennia
later.
A Greek drama is a series of actions within a literary presentation in which the chief character has a disastrous fate. Many Greek dramas fall under the theatrical category of a tragedy due to the tragic events and unhappy ending that cause the downfall of the main character. During the famous play “Antigone” the Greek author Sophocles incorporated several features of a tragedy. These features include a morally significant dilemma and the presence of a tragic hero. The grand debate over which character can hold the title of the tragic hero has been discussed in the literary world for ages.
In the history of civilization, there have been many different types of theatre. There is Greek theatre and Elizabethan theater. Some are musicals, some are comedies and some are tragedies. Some types employ realistic techniques while others are more avant-gardes. But one type stands out among the rest, and that is Kabuki theatre. This classical Japanese style of dance and drama is not just theatre. It is a beautiful form of art, which has been carefully crafted over many centuries.
First I will discuss the various aspects of ancient Greek theatre then compare to today’s modern version of theatre. Today it is widely believed that theatre first began in ancient Greece, the evidence. people used to come to this conclusion from ancient Greek plays. Greek art and architecture. Orchestra [ IMAGE] The diagram on the right shows the layout of a typical Greek theatre.
The great Sophoclean play, Oedipus Rex is an amazing play, and one of the first of its time to accurately portray the common tragic hero. Written in the time of ancient Greece, Sophocles perfected the use of character flaws in Greek drama with Oedipus Rex. Using Oedipus as his tragic hero, Sophocles’ plays forced the audience to experience a catharsis of emotions. Sophocles showed the play-watchers Oedipus’s life in the beginning as a “privileged, exalted [person] who [earned his] high repute and status by…intelligence.” Then, the great playwright reached in and violently pulled out the audience’s most sorrowful emotions, pity and fear, in showing Oedipus’s “crushing fall” from greatness.
Sophocles’ background influenced him to write Antigone. One important influence on the drama was the author’s life in the “golden era” of Athens during fifth century BCE. In that time, Athens was experiencing much change in all facets, and drama was a major factor in Athenian culture. In his essay “Sophocles,” Ed Downey reports that Sophocles was born at the beginning of the “golden era” in Athens and lived a long life influenced by “the artistic and cultural achievements in the ancient Greek world”. Sophocles was a wealthy and highly educated, “happy man.” As a young man, Sophocles began his playwright career, eventually becoming one of the greatest writers in history although only seven of his works are still intact (1). Similarly, the setting
The set plays a central role in dramatizing the theatrical experience of this particular production. As you can see in both figures 1 and 2, the set is purposely designed to resemble a metropolitan alleyway. This dramatic ambiance is created in an effort to parallel the harshness of the unforgiving streets of any particular conurbation. Normally, the audience would tend to construe this setting as a symbol of turmoil in the kingdom of Corinth. Thus, the set itself works as a device in developing a sense of political drama.
The theater of Dionysus stands at the foot of the acropolis and its date originates back to the 6th Century, B.C.. Its originally wood seats rise in tiers above one another against the slope of the acropolis, creating a natural setting for the plays (D'ooge, 231). The Greek Theater was built to house a drama which, during the festivals of Dionysus, had evolved from the long tradition of choral hymns which were presented each year. As Greek culture changed and flourished, entertainment transformed from being a series of choral chanting and dancing to placing an emphasis on the actor. As the actors' importance grew, there became a need for a stage from which they could be seen by each of the fourteen thousand spectators the theater housed. The chorus was still a very active part of the entertainment and they resided in the orchestra (Norwich, 64). The orchestra was the oldest part of the Greek theater and thus, when the actor was given
Actors were expected to memorize hundreds of lines at a time. While one play could be performing, actors would be practicing lines for their next show. Play writers also began to make roles for the actors in the theatrical pieces. The theaters that actors performed in were roofless so that the sun could be used as lighting. Theatrical shows were held in the afternoon because it provided the best amount of light for the show. When the people gathered into the theater, the different classes of people were separated by where they could afford to sit and watch the show. The lower classmen were situated on the bare earth where it was dirty and smelly because it was never cleaned. The owners’ of the theaters found it less expensive if they did not keep high maintenance of their establishments. Higher classmen sat under a roof and for a penny more, they could buy cushions for their seats.
To begin, the Globe had a distinct structure. It was a three story amphitheater that was about one hundred feet long and fifteen feet tall. The twenty circular walls were covered with a thatched roof but no ceiling (“Fun Facts on the Globe theater”). The roof protected the audience for the weather. On top of the roof was a flag that signified which type of play was being performed: black for tragedy, white for comedy, red for history. Just below the flag was the stage that was split into the upper stage, main stage, and inner stage. The main stage, where most of the action took place, contained a trap door where witches or ghosts could rise or descend to/from the space beneath called, “hell”. Along the back of the main stage, the inner stage was used for indoor scenes. Above that area, a chamber that was used for most balcony and bedroom scenes was called the upper stage. Next, the seats surro...
In ancient Greece, plays were more then simply a form of entertainment. "Athenian drama was supported and financed by the state. (...)Greek theater was directed at the moral and political education of the community." (Kennedy and Gioia, pgs 1357-1363) Sophocles understood this, and dissipated any pollyanic view of society by presenting us with plays that were intended to teach. Sophocles's Oedipus the King issued a warning for those who foolishly believed that they could challenge the forces of nature. Sophocles was known for presenting characters that are fluid not static. So it should come as no surprise that the Oedipus the reader encounters at the outset of the play, an extraordinary leader, but one who's pride has lead him to challenge his fate, has changed by the end of the play. He comes to realize that all his efforts to change the outcome of his life were acts of futility. We are shown a man who has finally accepted divine will and though now fallen from high estate is uplifted in moral dignity. (Kennedy and Gioia Pg 1364-1365)
The History of Greek Theater Theater and drama in Ancient Greece took form in about 5th century BCE, with the Sopocles, the great writer of tragedy. In his plays and those of the same genre, heroes and the ideals of life were depicted and glorified. It was believed that man should live for honor and fame, his action was courageous and glorious and his life would climax in a great and noble death. Originally, the hero’s recognition was created by selfish behaviors and little thought of service to others. As the Greeks grew toward city-states and colonization, it became the destiny and ambition of the hero to gain honor by serving his city.
This paper aims to study two significant playwrights, Sophocles and Euripides, and compare their respective attitudes by examining their plays in respect to plot and character structures. To achieve this goal, the paper is organized into two main sections. In the first section, we provide a brief biography of both Sophocles and Euripides. The second and last section includes summaries of Sophocles’ Electra and Euripides’ Electra which were based on same essentials and give an opportunity to observe the differences of the playwrights. This section also includes the comparisons that are made by our observations about the plays.
Sophocles lived during the Golden Age of Greece. He is renowned as one of the greatest dramaticist of
This term referred not only to the play people were putting on, but also to the movable, wheeled platform or wagon on which the performance was staged. A typical pageant wagon provided space for both set pieces and general acting, along with a place for the actors to change, and they were designed to let the play come to the audience rather than the other way around. Maintained by professional trade guilds but operating with content and leadership support from the church, they were instrumental in delivering both the Christian message and early secular
Greek and Elizabethan theatre, while similar in some respects, had a few large differences. The Greeks believed in a certain unity of theme, which was prevalent throughout the production. Greek plays were often drawn from myth or of historical significance, so it seems that only ki...