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GREEK AND ROMAN. DRAMA. BEGINNINGS. Festival to honor Dionysus God of Wine and Fertility Hope for blessing for Children Fertile, rich lands Good Crops. ARISTOTLE. A play is “an imitation of an action, and not the action itself.”. Fifth century B.C.
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GREEK AND ROMAN DRAMA
BEGINNINGS • Festival to honor Dionysus • God of Wine and Fertility • Hope for blessing for • Children • Fertile, rich lands • Good Crops
ARISTOTLE • A play is “an imitation of an action, and not the action itself.”
Fifth century B.C. Contests held at festivals during year. Playwright Aeschylus 525-456 B.C. 80-90 plays 7 survive Themes cosmic chorus reduced to 12 Second actor added ORESTEIA Plays Began
SOPHOCLES • 495-406 B.C. • 90 plays 7 survive • Won 18 prizes-1st/2nd • Complexities of human relationships • Third actor introduced • Oedipus, Antigone
EURIPIDES • 484-406 B.C. • 90 plays 18 survive • Won 5 contests • Appreciated later generations • No chorus • More realistic • Medea, Hippolytus
ARISTOPHANES • 448-380 B.C. • 40 plays 11 survive • Comedies • Themes satirized politics and social customs • Used chorus
COSTUMES • Masks • High heeled boots • Elaborate robes
STRUCTURE • Hillside • Orchestra • Later a back building • Machinery--crane moved actors to heaven, wheeled platform to show prearranged set, machinery to sounds such as thunder • Later a raised stage with two story building
ROMAN THEATRE • Plays Comedy and Tragedy • No chorus • Entertainment not just plays
Platus 12 plays survive Slapstick, mistaken identity, witty jokes, recognizable Roman life The Menaechmi Shakespeare-Comedy of Errors Terence 6 plays survive Seneca tragedies were written to be read and not presented on stage ROMAN PLAYWRIGHTS
THEATRE STRUCTURE • Flat ground • Masonry walled building • Highly decorated and elaborated • High stage with roof • Cut orchestra area • Two stories
OTHER ENTERTAINMENT • Circus Maximus--chariot races, circus games, horse races, prize fights • Amphitheatres--gladiatorial contests, wild animal fights, sea battles • Mimes • Pantomimes
FALL OF THEATRE AND OTHER ENTERTAINMENT • Violence and deaths on stage and in other entertainment • Growth of Christianity • Church outlawed all entertainment