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Classical Greek Theater. Background information. Cornell Notes. Four Reasons for Theater. Entertainment Religion Displaying loyalty to your city-state Honoring local heroes. Origins. Song and dance was a way of worshipping the gods …. Mortals, I command you to tell me how
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Classical Greek Theater Background information
Four Reasons for Theater • Entertainment • Religion • Displaying loyalty to your city-state • Honoring local heroes
Origins • Song and dance was a way of worshipping the gods… Mortals, I command you to tell me how awesome I am! We love you!
Origins • …and celebrating the harvest.
Origins • Over the centuries, harvest dances developed into the dithyramb, a religious ritual performed by a chorus of men wearing masks.
Origins • This is Thespis. Hi everyone! I made the dithyramb better by adding a new character, separate from the chorus. • He created the first actor.
Origins • Aeschylus added a second actor to the stage. • Sophocles added a third. • The chorus remained, but the audience became more interested in the characters and their lives and struggles.
The Theaters • The first theaters were just hillsides with a few wooden benches for the important spectators. (Theatron) • Then the circular dancing area, called the orchestra, was paved with stones. • The skene, a rectangular building made of wood, provided changing rooms for actors and prop storage.
The Theaters • Theater design continued to evolve. • Stone seats were added for everyone, not just the most important people. • The wooden skene was replaced by a permanent stone building called the proskenion.
The Theaters • Basic elements of a theater: • Circle for the actors. • Slope for the spectators with benches. • Open air for a roof.
The Chorus • Only men could be in the chorus or be actors in the play. Wait a minute… You’d never make a convincing woman! But Martin Lawrence pulled it off in “Big Momma’s House!”
Acting I’m a BIG fan of Greek theater!
The Chorus • Entered at the beginning of the drama. • Remained during the performance. • Commented on the action of the play.
The Chorus • The choragos was the leader of the chorus. • Sometimes he participated in the dialogue and represented the responses of a typical citizen.
Acting • The actors’ gestures had to be exaggerated and dramatic so people in the back row could see.
Acting • Everyone except the musicians wore masks. • Masks were made of wool, linen, wood, plaster, or other perishable materials.
The Stage • Differences between Greek and modern theater: • No scenery or special effects. • Actors wore masks. • The skene served as whatever building the play needed (palace, temple, cave). • Lighting was natural. • Very few props.
The Stage • The violence - murder, suicide, and battles - almost always occurred offstage. CRASH! BLAM! KAPOW! Aaargh! I am stabbed! The pain is horrible!!! A messenger would appear after the event and describe in gory detail what had just happened.
The Plays • The 5th Century B.C. was known as the golden age of Greek Drama. • Four playwrights emerged as the greatest: Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, and Aristophanes
The Plays • Plays retold myths, rewrote history, and ridiculed politicians. • Aristophanes wrote comic plays and got himself in trouble for satirizing politicians and even the gods.
The Plays • The other three masters were tragic poets. • Tragic plays captured humankind’s timeless struggle to find the purpose of life and to achieve self-understanding.
The Plays • Central to the tragedy is the fall of the great man (or woman, but her part was played by a man). • This person is called the tragic hero. • His/her fate is brought about by a flaw within his or her own character. • Hubris: excessive pride or arrogance (usually the tragic flaw)
The Plays • The tragic hero inspired audiences to: • examine their own lives, • define their beliefs, • and cleanse their emotions of pity and terror through compassion for the character (catharsis).
